Take Care of Me
by broncoboy13
Summary: Cat gets sick. Who is left to help? Maybe a certain Latina?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys. Short wait, huh? Well, I loved the reviews you gave me on a Good Problem to Have. Thank you all so much. It was very much appreciated.**

**Now, the next story. This Pairing is CORI! I know, not exactly one of the most popular pairings, but I've recently read a couple of CORI stories written by Waitwhathuh. He/She is a genius, man. I envy his/her writing style. Anyway, when I read those, I just liked the way they flowed, so I decided to write one.**

**I've been sitting on this plot for a while now, so get ready everyone, because here we go.**

**Cat's POV**

A loud noise causes me to literally jump out of my bed. Mr. Purple went flying. It was my alarm clock. That meant I had to get up for school. Oh, joy. Why can't the school board just have one day dedicated to sleep once a week? I get up out of bed to turn off that stupid thing that woke me up.

"Damn alarm clock… always waking me up. Who does it think it is?" I grumble to myself. I may seem like a happy and bubbly person in the afternoon, which I am… I really am. I am just **NOT **a morning person, at all. Although I hate to say it, I do have to get ready.

You see, I'm kind of OCD about some things. One of those things is my morning routine. My morning routine is my everything. When I wake up, I go straight for my alarm clock and turn it off. Because, come on people, let's just face it… no one wants to hear that dumb noise any more than they have to.

Second, I turn on my TV to check the weather. It's usually sunny here in Los Angeles, where I live, but it's part of my fore-mentioned morning routine. I **HAVE **to do it. It originally started out being something I did during the fall, because you never know with the fall. One day it could be eighty degrees and sunny, and then the next day, there was snow on the ground. So it just stuck. The weather, by the way, was perfect: seventy-five and sunny.

Third, I pick out my outfit. You wouldn't believe the type of crap I have in my closet. I have a hundred different pairs of shoes, a ton of little mini-skirts with nice tops and cardigans, and a whole portion of my closet is dedicated to sweatpants… sweet, sweet sweatpants… so comfy. And due to the mild weather, I think I'll go with a pair of sweatpants today. Now I just need to find a tee-shirt.

My eyes quickly find an old cheer shirt of mine from middle school that still fits. That's right. Caterina Valentine was a cheerleader at Havenwood Middle School. Oh, yes. Our nickname was "The Pelicans". Intimidating, right? No, wrong. We were the worst in the county! It was awful!

And then, lastly on my morning schedule, is I have to go downstairs and make breakfast for myself and my big brother Adam. Adam is a bit… slow. I mean, not like, he needs to have someone with him at all times or he'll flip out kind of slow. He's the kind of slow that it takes him a very long time to get things through his head. He has a hard time carrying on a legitimate conversation sometimes, but other than the fact that he does some pretty weird stuff around the house, he's really quite normal. He does have his good days and bad days, though. Some days, he'll seem like there's absolutely nothing wrong with him. Others, however… it seems like a lot is wrong.

Adam is already down stairs. I kind of figured because his bedroom door was open and no one was in there.

I walk lightly on the steps with my shoes and socks in hand. Adam quickly turns around and waives at me.

"Good morning, Cat. How did you sleep?" He asks me.

"I didn't sleep too badly." I answer. "What about you, Adam? How did you sleep?"

"Well," He pauses for a minute, "I had a weird dream last night."

I think I may regret asking him what the dream was about. I always do. But I can't just leave him hanging on his thought, so… "Oh, really? What was it about?" Here we go.

"I dreamed that me, you, Mom, and Dad were in a swimming pool full of snow. No one was cold or anything. Then I saw some yellow snow by my feet, so I went down to taste it." He pauses. "Everyone was telling me to stop eating it. I don't know why, though."

"Well, Adam… let me explain something to you really quick. That dream you had… wasn't a dream. There was no swimming pool. That swimming pool you were thinking of is called a toilet. And the yellow snow is called urine, Adam. You drank urine. That's why we were telling you to stop." I shudder at the thought of him drinking pee.

"Oh… so… I drank pee?" He asks.

"Yes, you did."

"Do they sell it in stores?" I just roll my eyes at that. "Kitty Cat? Are you going to answer me?" He yells at me.

In an attempt to change the subject, I ask him what he wants for breakfast. It works every time. And just like always, he says he wants an omelet filled with cheese and sausage, with Season Salt sprinkled on top. He came up with the recipe all by himself. And I'm not going to lie… it actually tastes really good. I don't know how he came up with something like it.

When I finish making it, he grabs a fork and digs into the omelet. I grab a fork too, and take a bite of it. He looks up at me like I just took a dollar from him.

"Did I say you could take a bite out of **MY **omelet?" He asks. I know he's just messing with me.

"I made it." I say, mouth full of food, "So I deserve a piece of it. I'm just going to make me some cereal. What should I have today? Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Lucky Charms?" I ask.

"Ummm… what did you have yesterday?"

"I had Fruity Pebbles yesterday." I bite my lip, trying to decide. "You know… yeah… I think I'm going to have Lucky Charms." I get the box out of the cabinet and pull out a bowl to put it in, along with the carton of milk that's half empty in the refrigerator.

"You go girl! You eat those Lucky Charms!" Adam says, pumping a fist in the air.

"YEAH!" I scream.

Sitting down at the table, I quickly start wolfing down my cereal, because my ride to school will be here soon and I still need to pack up my stuff. A horn honks.

"Damn, Adam, Tori's here and I need to pack up my stuff. If you want to eat the rest of my cereal, you can, okay?" I say.

He holds up the signal for okay and I quickly run upstairs and throw a bunch of stuff in my bag. I grab my makeup pouch and run for the door.

Tori is sitting outside in her red Honda Civic waiting for my slow ass to get into the car and go to school with her. I'm so making us late. It's not even funny. She's going to be so pissed off. I quickly throw my bag in her trunk and get in the Passenger's seat beside her.

"Sorry about that, Tori. I was kind of running behind, I guess." I sigh.

"Oh, it's okay, Cat. I was actually a little early. It's seven- twenty and I'm usually here by seven-thirty. So don't worry about it. We're ahead of schedule." She smiles at me and I smile back.

"So, how's Adam doing?" She asks.

"Well, this morning he told me that he had a dream- which, by the way, was completely real- that our family was in a swimming pool full of snow. He saw some yellow snow and he ate it." I say. She furrows her brow, quite confused. "But wait, that's not the best part. The kicker is that he wasn't in a pool. And he didn't try yellow snow. He was in the bathroom, drinking pee out of the toilet." She gags and I shudder.

"Well… that is really gross. But he can't help it, right?" She asks.

"No. I just think it's getting a little worse. He's slipping a lot more. It's getting to the point where I have to correct him or he'll just keep making up stuff. I mean, he's not a compulsive liar or anything. He just doesn't know what he's talking about half of the time. It's kind of like he's dreaming all the time." I say.

"So it's really getting that bad, huh?"

"Yeah, it's getting pretty bad. But he has his good days and bad days."

We're both quiet for the next few minutes of the ride to school. I guess all the talk about Adam kind of bummed her out. Hey, it would wear me out too if he wasn't my brother. But I was put here to take care of him. So that's what I'm going to do for as long as I live at home.

Tori turns onto the street where Hollywood Arts is and drives for a while. She pulls into the parking lot and parks her car in a parking place relatively close to the entrance.

"You ready for the day? Do you need anything before we go in?" She asks. I shake my head no and she smiles.

Getting out of the car, I suddenly realize that my stomach hurts… like seriously bad. I practically double over in pain and wince as I cross the street. Tori looks back at me, concern written all over her face. She walks beside me with an arm draped across my back.

"Cat, are you feeling okay?" She asks as we enter the building.

"I'll be okay. It's probably just cramps. It's my time of the month anyway. Don't worry about me, Tori. Go ahead and go to your next class. I'll see you after school, okay?" I try to play off the pain as well as I can, but it's to no avail. Although she doesn't protest what I'm saying, it's clear that she isn't a huge fan of what's going on right now. She definitely doubts me.

"Okay, Cat." She says, obviously skeptical. "Feel better." She hugs me and walks away.

I walk over to my locker to get some stuff for the day. For anyone who doesn't know what my locker looks like, I always put my used gum on the door. Every now and then I'll clean it when it gets too full. Some compare it to Sinjin Van Cleef's locker. I can see the similarities between them, but Sinjin puts like… different types of broken down meats on his door. I just think gum is the cleaner of the two.

My combination to my lock on my locker is 1418. I can easily remember that combination because I came to this school when I was fourteen and I'll be leaving it next year. So, yes, I'm seventeen, if you haven't figured it out yet.

God, my stomach hurts. It's getting really crampy. It's starting to make me slightly nauseas. But that's not even the fun part. The fun part is that now I'm starting to get a headache. It's a horrible headache, too.

On my way to Mr. Hurt's Honors Biology class, my headache intensifies. Tears are filling my eyes, the pain is so bad. I enter Mr. Hurt's door and sit down next to Andre, tears still in my eyes. He glances over at me for a second, and then looks away, apparently not noticing the tears in my eyes.

"Hey, what's up…" Andre stops when he looks at me again. He finally noticed the tears in my eyes. "What's wrong, Little Red? Are you feeling alright?" He asks. Kind of a dumb question, given there are tears in my eyes and I'm clutching my stomach!

"No, Andre. I feel just fine. I'm just crying and clutching my stomach for no freaking reason. Of course I'm not feeling alright!" I snap.

"Jeez, sorry, Cat. I was just trying to see what was wrong." He says, slightly upset.

"Andre… I'm sorry. I just really don't feel good today. I don't feel like being here. I don't feel like learning, eating, talking… nothing. All I want to do is sleep. I just really want to go home. But I can't, so I guess I'll just push through." I finish.

"It's okay, Cat. I understand. Just think about it this way: every minute you sit in here, the less amount of time you have until you can go to sleep." He smiles.

"Okay, everyone!" Mr. Hurt yells. "Please put your phones away and take out your notes on Photosynthesis. I know we've already gone over it this year, but I just want to refresh your memories for the Mid-term exams coming up this week. So I'm going to just ask you some questions based on your notes. If you studied, you should know this stuff. So here we go." He says.

"Just what I need: learning." I mumble to myself.

"What was that, Miss Valentine?" Mr. Hurt asks.

"Nothing, Mr. Hurt. I just said that this is just what I need, because I haven't been studying like I should be. This will help me." I smile my best smile.

"Well, good. Start studying on your own time a little more, Cat." He says. I nod. "Here we go. Andre, what is the basic chemical formula for photosynthesis?" He asks.

Andre looks up at the ceiling trying to remember. "I believe it's Co2 + H2O = C6H12O6, right?"

"That's correct. People, when Photosynthesis occurs when a plant cell take in the sun's energy. Now, can someone tell me what happens when the plant harvests that energy?" He asks.

No hands go up. Of course, my hands are still gripping my stomach.

"No one? Okay, when the sun harvests that energy it produces food for itself. It's the only thing on the planet that can make food for itself. No other species can do that, folks. The 'food' that is produced is called glucose. That's a sugar. It's also the formula Mr. Harris mentioned earlier. The formula is C6H12O6. Plants also automatically produce Oxygen. It's actually a waste product released by the plant. Thank God they do because we'd be screwed if they didn't." He laughs. "Then, when we take in the Oxygen and breathe out, we release Carbon Dioxide."

God, this class is so boring. My pounding headache has now turned into a migraine. It's getting to become unbearable.

The class is moving pretty quickly by now and Mr. Hurt just doesn't stop talking. I mean, he's a nice enough guy, but the class he teaches is just so uninteresting. That's why I'm very thankful when the bell rings. I jump out of my seat and run out the door without even saying goodbye to Andre. Luckily I see him next period so I can apologize. I just had to get out. Of that damn classroom. I was getting hot. It's what I imagine a hot flash feels like. I was getting more and more nauseous by the minute and my headache was about to make me cry my little brown eyes out.

I run to my locker to take a couple of Tylenol I keep in there for situations like these, hoping that it will sooth the headache for at least a little while. After throwing my Biology book into my locker, I slam the door in frustration with the pain.

After that, I walk to my Songwriting class. That one shouldn't be too hard. Most of my friends will be in there. Jade, Andre, and Tori are in there, so maybe they'll make me feel better. The Tylenol is working a little on the headache, but the cramps and nausea are still there. And the cramps are just getting worse. I stumble into the classroom, plopping down into my chair.

Tori sits down beside me. Andre sits opposite her, and Jade sits on the other side of her. Tori has a concerned look on her face as she looks at my more than likely flush face. I can't say I blame her, though. She puts her hand on my shoulder and wraps her arms around me like she's trying to warm me up in a cold blizzard.

"Andre told me what you told him. About the cramps and the headache and stuff. Why didn't you tell me this in the hallway before school? We could've gone home. I could've made you something to eat or something." She says.

"I don't know, Tori. I just didn't want to be any trouble." I answer honestly. "And I wanted to prove it to myself that I can take pain; that I can push through something. I'm sorry. I should've told you." I lower my head.

"Yeah, you should have. But it's okay, because you're still okay. Just tell me if you want to go home and I'll take you to my place or something, okay?" She asks?

"Have you had anything to eat today?" Jade asks.

"Well…" I pause, "…I had a few bites of cereal this morning, but I had to make Adam's breakfast and get ready to go, so I really didn't have enough time to get anything really good to eat. Wish I had made you stop and get me an Egg McMuffin or something. I think I'll be fine until lunch guys, seriously. I will be, just watch." I say.

"I believe you, Cat. We believe you, right guys?" Tori asks the others.

"Of course." They say.

And that class actually went by faster than the other one. After the songwriting class, we all had lunch in the Asphalt Café. Even I attempted to eat. However, when I actually got the food down, it always made me want to throw up. It was so unpleasant.

"Cat, are you sure you're okay?" Jade asks.

"No. I'm not even close to sure or okay."

"Do you need to go home? Because if you have to, we can go right now. I'll just have my mom write out an excuse note." Tori offers.

"No, I don't need to go home. But I definitely need to go to the bathroom." With that, I jump up and literally run to the doors of the school. "Move out of the honkin' way, people! Chizz'll be going everywhere!" I scream as I run into the school.

I'm racing through the halls now. My stomach is churning. My head is pounding.

When I reach the bathroom, I push the door open and fall to my knees in a stall. I'm straining so hard to get everything out that my eyes are watering. I'm blind right now and I can't see where everything is going. While I'm vomiting, I hear the door open.

"Cat? Cat, are you in here?" Tori's voice echoes in the large bathroom.

"What gave it away? The sound of me gagging or the throw up hitting the water?" I ask sarcastically.

"Both, actually." She laughs. I'm really not in the mood for a laugh. "I think after you get through throwing up I'll take you to the nurse's office to find out just how sick you are. Is that okay?" She asks.

"Uh, yeah." I say, standing up and wiping my mouth. "Let's go."

"Are you sure you're through?"

"Yeah, come on." I say, grabbing her arm. She's practically carrying me to the nurse's office. I hate to put her through this, but she's really making me feel like I'm in good hands. I've got the best friends in the world.

She's now carrying bridal style into the Nurse's office, my head buried into her shoulder. Nurse Cotter looks up at us with a confused expression on her face. I guess she doesn't get a lot of patients in here being carried bridal style. She stands up and takes my temperature. She looks at the small monitor at my temperature and she grimaces. I guess that's not good.

"Yeah, Cat." She says. "Your fever is up to a hundred and two. You probably need to go home. Like, right now. But before you leave, I'd just like to ask you a few questions."

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" I scream. "DON'T TAKE ME AWAY!"

"What are you talking about, Cat? I just wanted to ask you about how you're feeling and how you're taking care of yourself and stuff like that." Nurse Cotter says.

"Oh, okay." I laugh for a moment. "Go ahead."

"Well, knowing you, you probably had candy for breakfast. Did you?" She asks.

"Well, that's two different things, Nurse Cotter." I start. "If you ask me, 'Did you have candy for breakfast' and to me, that would mean that you're asking me if I've had like… sour worms or something. When you ask me if I've had chocolate for breakfast, it could range anywhere from Hershey to Mr. Goodbar. So, could you clarify that question for me?"

"Um, okay, Cat." I can tell that kinda freaked her out, but she needs to be clear about what she's talking about, you know? "I guess what I meant was, did you have an unhealthy breakfast?"

"Well, really, I didn't have much of a breakfast at all. You see, what happened is I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms, which really isn't the healthiest of breakfasts, and then Tori showed up to take me to school right after I sat down. So I didn't get a chance to really eat a good breakfast, no." I say.

"Now, are they cramps? Or is it a stomach ache? I just want to make that clear."

"No, they're definitely cramps. It really feels like someone is reaching inside of me, grabbing my insides, and twisting them." I grimace in pain.

"Okay. Um… Cat, I want you to go to a drug store and buy a bottle of Imodium. It relieves a bunch of things like cramps and pressure, gas, bloating, diarrhea, things like that. It's over the counter, it's not very expensive or anything." I nod. "And Tori, have you been around Cat a lot, touched her a lot, things like that?"

"Yeah, let's see. I took her to school, sat by her in class, and carried her here. Why do you ask?" Tori asks. "Could I be getting sick?"

"I don't know." Nurse Cotter says. "But I want you both to go to a Rite Aid or something or a Walgreens. So here's a pass," she's writing something on a pad and hands me a piece a paper, "to get out of school due to sickness. So make sure you have all your stuff together and get outta here. I don't want to get sick." She smiles.

"Thanks, Nurse Cotter. We'll see you when we get better." I say.

"Hey, Cat, you've got to promise me something." She says.

"What's that?" I ask.

"You **cannot **have any sort of candy or chocolate until you're healthy. I just think you should stick to foods that contain a lot of vitamins." She says.

"AHHHH! NO! I can't promise you that." I whine.

"Cat, you're unhealthy right now. You aren't well. What was the key word in that statement? It's the word 'unhealthy'. What type of foods are chocolate and candy?" She asks.

"Healthy?"

"No, Cat. They aren't even close to being healthy. They have no nutritional value. They're just full of carbohydrates and they aren't even the good kind. So don't eat any of that stuff, okay?" She pleads.

"Fine! I just hope you know that I'm giving up a huge chunk of what I do with my life, which is eat chocolate, just to please you." I say.

"You shouldn't be doing it for me, though. You should be doing it to make yourself healthy. Just get out of here and get some rest guys." She says.

After we packed all of our stuff up, we pull into a Rite Aid just down the street to get some Imodium. Tori and I will be staying at her house for a while. She offered to let me stay there as long as I need to and I gratefully accepted.

"Okay, here's the Imodium. You ready, Cat?" Tori asks. I nod, still in pain.

"Alright. Let me pay for it while you wait in the car. Is that okay?"

I turn on my heel and walk to the car as quickly as I can. Sitting in the passenger's seat, I can't help but just stare blankly out the window. And within five minutes, Tori is in the car.

"Okay. Let's head home." She puts the car in drive and we begin to drive down the road. Luckily, she doesn't live that far away and we're in her driveway in no time.

"Do you want to sleep in our guest room or on the couch?" She asks as we walk in the door.

"Well, actually, I was wondering if I could sleep in your bed with you. I just don't like to be alone while I'm sick."

"Of course, Cat. That's no problem." She smiles, sitting down beside me.

"It's just that no one at home really takes care of me. I mean, Adam tries, but it's Adam. He's… limited, I guess." I say.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Cat. Don't worry. I'll take great care of you." She hugs me. I know I'm in great hands.

**So, how did you all like it? I know it seems like a friendship story right now, but you have to let me get it set up. So let me know what you all think and just… yeah. Have a good day, everyone!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, guys, wasn't totally happy with how many views I got on the first chapter, but it's cool, because the great Waitwhathuh followed my story! Totally freaking out. Just let me know how you like this one.**

"Okay, Cat. Before we go to bed, I'm stripping you down of all your candy and chocolate and all the other unhealthy foods. That means take all the Twizzlers out of your bra… the rolos, and stuff like that. No unhealthy foods." Tori says.

"Okay, I guess." I pull the Twizzlers out of my bra and throw them on the kitchen table. "There. That's it." I look at her. She knows I'm lying.

"That's crazy. There's no way that's all the candy and stuff you have on you. Come on, keep it coming."

I exhale loudly, showing frustration. I reach in my back pocket and pull out some Air Heads. How weird. People consider me an air head, which I may be, and I'm carrying them in my pocket. How funny. I put the Air Heads on the table. Then, I go into my purse and take out Snickers bars, 3 Musketeers bars, Kit Kat's, and some Skittles. I look Tori in the eye.

"Cat…?" She questions me, knowingly.

I exhale loudly again and reach into my bra one last time. Then I pull out some gummy bears. She smiles at me after that.

"That's a good girl. So do have anything you need to do in the bathroom before bed? I just don't want to walk in on you and see your… lady goods." She laughs.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that either. Just imagine how embarrassing it would be for both of us if that happened. God, that would be awful." I shudder.

"Yeah, I know. I don't know if I'd be able to look you in the eye for a while without thinking about it." She says. I look at her, curiously and just a bit freaked out.

"Ummm… what?" I ask.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you wouldn't be able to look me in the eye without thinking about it. What the hell did you mean by that?"

"Cat, I don't think you know what you're talking about. Maybe the cramps are kinda messing with your head. Why don't you come lie down on the couch?" She asks. That's bullshit. She knows what I'm talking about. She just caught herself.

"Tori, I just think I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. I don't want any dinner." I close my eyes and put my head on the table.

"Okay, I guess that sounds good. I took a shower this morning, so it's all yours. Just lock the door. Just in case…" She says.

"Totally. Don't want any creeping." I laugh, even though it still freaked me out that she's thinking about walking in on me.

I run up her stairs, through Tori's room, and into her bathroom. I kind of forgot she was a purple freak. I, personally, like my pink walls a whole lot better. Tori definitely doesn't have as many stuffed animals as I have. She has a couple of bunnies here and there, maybe a small bear one of her boyfriends gave her or something, but her collection is nothing compared to mine. I'm so proud of it.

I grab a towel from underneath the sink in the bathroom. Man, her towels are so soft. They feel like a big bunch of feathers hitting your skin. And the smell they give off… I think Tori has one of the best smelling laundry detergent I've ever smelled. That, or her towels just don't get dirty.

I turn on the water and keep it at an average temperature; not too hot, not too cold.

The sickness is real. I feel so week right now. Knowing that I'm sick and I can't do anything to stop it immediately is frustrating to me. I need to have control of a situation to feel comfortable. And I don't have control over this situation. So what does that mean? It means that I'm uncomfortable.

After zoning out for a bit, I slowly strip off my clothes, piece by piece. The sweatpants come first, and then the cheer shirt, and then the underwear. With that, I step into Tori's shower. When the warm water cascades across my skin, I can immediately feel the germs washing off of me. It's too bad they'll be back in no time.

I soon find myself looking around for soap or body wash or something. Ah, there's all her stuff; shampoo, soap and everything. What's that lotion for? Shaving her legs, maybe? There's no wash rag in here though, so I rub the soap into my hands. Then I use my hands to wash my body. I hate doing that, though. It doesn't truly get your body clean. I just consider it a rinse.

Then, I move onto shampoo. I **HAVE **to take good care of my hair. My hair is my life. Now, don't get confused. I know I said my morning routine is my everything. But my hair is my life. There's a difference.

Based on what I know, no one takes care of their hair like I do. No one puts in the time and effort with their hair like I do. I mean, there's so much work that goes into it. I have to dye it at least once a month. And unless I brush it every night before I lie down at night, I have to get up really early in the morning, wash my hair, run a brush through it, dry it, brush it again, and then straighten it with a straightening iron.

I quickly exit the shower and dry off with that awesome towel Tori has. I take her brush and run it through my hair. Then, I wrap the towel around my body. When the towel is securely wrapped around me, I exit the bathroom and yell downstairs for Tori.

"Tori! I need you!" I yell.

"Cat?! Cat, what's wrong?" She sounds worried.

"Nothing," I laugh, "I just need something to wear. I don't think I want to sleep in a towel. I don't think you want me to sleep in a towel, either. So could you come up and help me get something?" I ask.

"Sure. I'll be up in just a second. Wait for me in my room."

So with that, I stroll into her purple bedroom and sit on her bed, looking around at the pictures on her wall. There are pictures of her and Andre, and her and Jade, surprisingly. There's one of her and Robbie after Cow Wow… that's when Robbie kissed me. It wasn't bad, actually. Then, I see that there is one picture sitting on her dresser of us at Karaoke Dokie when she beat those mean girls who banned us from singing there. I don't know how she came up with a name like Louise Nordoff. What is that? Russian or something? She's just creative like that, I guess.

"Hey, sorry it took so long." She says, running into her bedroom. "There was just this Lifetime movie on TV and you know how I am about those. I just can't miss them." She smiles, going over to her dresser, I guess to get me something to wear.

"Tori, I really appreciate this. If we feel like it, we can go over to my place tomorrow and get some stuff for me. I don't want to dirty up all your pajamas." I say.

"Oh, it's no problem, Cat. But sure, that sounds good. Let's just hope whatever this is isn't lethal. Then we wouldn't be able to go over there."

"Lethal?" I ask, worried. "Tori is this going to kill us? Because if this is going to kill us, then I need to know because I don't want to be eating and then all of a sudden, BOOM, my head falls into my food. So is this going to kill us… or me… or you?" I ask, out of breath.

"Cat, sweetheart, slow down." She sets the pajamas down beside me and wraps her arms around me. "No, this is not going to kill us. I promise it won't. I was just making a joke. Apparently it wasn't that funny." She chuckles.

" No, it wasn't that. It was… well, it was kind of that," I laugh, "but I just don't think I could stand to lose my best friend." I look her in the eye.

"I thought Jade was your best friend."

"Well, Jade is my oldest friend. We've known each other forever. Don't tell her but…" I lean in close to her and whisper, "…she isn't a very awesome friend. She's a little…"

"Maniacal, cunning, conniving, mean, bitchy?" I guess she's describing Jade now.

"Easy now, Tori. She's still my friend, even though she isn't the greatest one in the world." I warn her.

"Sorry… just so used to it. I'll get better, though." She smiles.

"I'm sure you will. Now, if you could leave the room for a minute so I could change, that would be great. I don't think you wanna see anything you might be embarrassed to see." I laugh.

She kind of sits there. "Yeah… embarrassed." I wave my hand in front of a frozen Tori."

"Tori… hello!?" I try to get her attention.

"Oh, damn. Sorry, Cat. Yeah! "She, like, breaks out of a trance. "Yeah, I'll leave you to it." She gets up and runs out of her room.

She wasn't… thinking about… or visualizing… nah, there's no way. There's no way she was doing what I think she was doing. Not even a slight chance.

She picked me out a purple shirt. What else is new? Tori and Purple. I swear, it's the only color she ever wears. Her room is always decked out in purple. Her clothes are purple. I wonder what her favorite color is. And guess what color the pajama bottoms are. Yep, you guessed it. Purple.

Actually, the bottoms she picked for me are quite cute. They're like those cheer shorts that all the preppy cheerleaders always wear, except they're made out of the material that all the pajama pants are made out of.

I slide those on, along with the purple shirt, even though they're just a little bit too big. I know Tori's breasts aren't the biggest in the world, but this shirt being too big is just a testament to how small mine actually are. I can get it done though.

"Okay! You can come in now!" I yell to her. She twists at the door knob but it doesn't open. I guess I must've locked it. I rush over to the door and unlock it. She walks in. I can tell she's not feeling very good either.

"You okay, Tori?" I ask.

She shakes her head 'no' with a sick look on her face. It's almost a grimace.

"I feel like shit." She says.

"Feeling blunt all of a sudden, are we?" I laugh, even though we both really do feel like crap.

"Sorry, Cat, but it's true. I'm really starting not to feel good. Do your cramps kind of feel like constant sharp pains? Because mine are getting really bad." She says.

"Yeah! That's exactly how they feel. I'm just dealing with it. I'm still in a bunch of pain. Why don't we lie down now? I need to contact my parents and fill them in on what's going on. I'm just going to go downstairs to call them and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you in a minute." She smiles and covers herself up with her comforter. I get up off of the bed and walk out of her room, shutting the door until it's cracked.

I walk downstairs, pulling out my pink Pearphone. I hit the green phone button and click on the favorites tab and click on my Mom's name. It's always tense when I call my mother. We don't necessarily have the greatest relationship. She's very controlling and my dad is gone on business a lot. He's not really here to make himself strict, controlling, laidback, or anything.

"Caterina, darling, I'm at work. Whatever could you want right now?" She ask, bitterly, over the phone.

"Nice to talk to you, too, Mother." I say, sarcastically.

"Caterina, what do you want?"

"Well, first off, I want you to stop calling me Caterina for the nine-thousandth fucking time!" Yeah, I've got a potty mouth around my mom. "And I also wanted to tell you that I'm sick and staying over at Tori Vega's house. I just figured I'd tell you so Adam would know what was going on. Tell him I love him and miss him." I say.

"You called to tell me this? You called to tell me this while I'm at work? Caterina, you seriously need to get your timing down. Stop calling me at work! Unless it's serious, my work phone is off limits."

"Mother, stop calling me Caterina, damn it! And yes, I did call you at work because this is serious! Your daughter is sick and she won't be staying at home for the next week or so! So yes, I called you at work. Please, oh glorious mother, please forgive me!" I say, sarcastically.

"I'm hanging up. Goodnight, CATERINA!"

"You bitch!" I scream into the phone.

"You having some problems?" Tori asks, out of nowhere.

"Oh, sorry, Tori. How much of that did you hear?" I ask, slightly embarrassed about what my mother brings out of me.

"I heard enough. Do you and your mother have problems or something? She really strict? She seems like she is. Based on what I heard you call her, you aren't her biggest fan." She laughs.

"Yeah, we definitely have some severe relationship problems. And I really don't care to solve them. I mean, what good would it do? My mom doesn't like anyone anyway. The only thing she likes in this world are her coffee mugs, her hair brush, and her car. That's it."

"She doesn't love your dad?"

"Nope. Never has, either. She just married him for his money. I've heard her say it before. I just think my dad just tries to forget that she said that. Because they don't really show any affection towards each other. They sleep in the same bed and they have sex and that's about it. It's mostly physical… a physical relationship, I mean." I say.

"I can't say the same about my parents. They have a really healthy relationship." She says.

"Well that's really good, Tori. It's important for children's parents to have healthy relationships. I hear it rubs off on them." I smile.

"I guess so. I'm really sorry about all that stuff with your mom, though. All this time we've known each other and you're just now telling me about your mom?" She asks.

"The opportunity never really presented itself. Sorry about that." I laugh.

"I guess it's okay. Now, come on and let's go to bed. We're probably going to feel like crap tomorrow as it is, so we should get as much sleep as we can. What do you say?" She asks.

I nod and stand up.

Walking back into her room, I suddenly feel a huge rush of sleepiness fall over me. I yawn and fall down onto her bed. She climbs in on the other side and covers us up with her covers. She snuggles in close to me. And now, even though I'm sick, I feel really safe.

Early the next morning, I wake up to a stirring stomach. I'm about to throw up again. I guess those Imodium only work for a little while.

I throw the covers off of me and run into Tori's bathroom. I fall down to my knees and start vomiting into the toilet.

I feel awful. My eyes are watering again, and now there's an awful taste in my mouth that I'm about to have to wash out. I hear those very familiar footsteps of Tori's enter the bathroom behind me.

"Cat? Are you okay?" She asks, worried.

"Not in the least. All this gagging is killing me. My body is trying to make itself throw up but there just isn't anything to throw up. Tori, go get me another Imodium. Please, go quickly!" I plead. And instantly, she's out of the room and back again within a minute or two.

"Oh, god, Tori, thank you so much." I toss the pill back and swallow it. I exhale loudly and I immediately start feeling better.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, so much better. I'm telling you, those Imodium work quickly, but when they wear off, you automatically feel like crap." I take another drink of water. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"I feel like shit, too." She laughs, painfully. "The cramps aren't what are bothering me. I mean, don't get me wrong, they hurt. But the headaches are what are bothering me. I'm going to go downstairs and get some breakfast and take some Ibuprofen with it. Maybe my mom can make us something. What do you say? You want some breakfast?" She asks.

"Yeah, I guess that sounds good. I guess I could try to eat something." I nod and stand up from the bathroom floor. Walking out of her bathroom, I suddenly feel cold.

"Hey, Tori?"

"What's up, Cat?"

"Are you cold? Or is it just me?" I cross my arms and start shivering.

"I think it may just be you. Would you like to wear one of my sweatshirts? I've got a bunch and you can wear it as long as you want." She offers.

"That's really sweet of you, Tori. Thanks a bunch." She walks over to her closet and opens the door.

"Let's see… I have Nike, Under Armor, Adidas, Reebok… pick your poison." She says.

"I couldn't care less. I just want heat. You choose for me." I tell her.

She looks me up and down for a moment. I have no clue why, but I'm sure she has her reasons. She reaches back into her closet and pulls out a purple and black Nike sweatshirt and hands it to me. I gladly accept it and throw it on. So much better.

"You seem like a Nike girl. So there you go. Feeling warmer yet?" She asks.

"Well, my upper body does, but these shorts you gave me are really short. So they don't provide…" She cuts me off by handing me a pair of pajama bottoms made out of thick cotton.

"Way ahead of you, Kitty Cat." She smiles.

"Tori, thank you so much. What do you say we go and get that breakfast now?" She smiles and leads me out of her room and down the stairs.

"Good morning, sleepy heads. It's almost ten o'clock in the morning. Tori, you never sleep this late. I can't speak for Cat, though." Tori's mom, Holly, says.

"Mama, we're sick. Can you make us some breakfast?" Tori whines.

"Of course, baby. What do you want?"

"Cat, what do you want?" Tori asks me.

I tap my finger on my chin, signaling that I'm thinking. Mrs. Vega gets out a skillet to cook something in as I try to make up my mind. Nothing's coming to me. I just can't think of anything. Nothing sounds appealing.

"I could make you an omelet with cheese, ham… tomatoes. I, um… could make some pancakes, waffles… anything you want, Cat." She says.

"Tori, what are you going to have?" I ask. "Whatever you're having, I'll have."

"Well, I want that omelet you were just talking about, Mom." Tori says.

"Make that two." I add.

After Mrs. Vega cracks the eggs and starts beating them, Tori's dad, David, comes trotting down the stairs in a business suit. That's weird. I always thought he was a police officer, not a businessman.

"Good morning, everyone." He says, cheerfully.

"Hello, Mr. Vega." I say, flatly.

"Cat, I didn't know you stayed over here last night. You don't look so good, Red. What's going on with you? You too, Tori. Are you guys feeling okay?" He asks.

"Daddy, we don't feel good at all. I don't know about Cat, but as soon as I eat my omelet, I'm going straight back to bed." Tori says.

"I think that sounds like a good idea." I say.

"Yeah, you two need to rest up. You both should be back at school on this coming Monday. That's about four days away. Cat, even if she's not well, Tori will have to go on Monday, so I can't assure you that she'll be able to hang out with you all day." Mr. Vega tells me.

"That's fine, Mr. Vega. I'm sure we'll both be right as rain by that time. All we need is a little rest." I smile my best smile.

"I'm sure you will be." He grabs a bagel out of their refrigerator and takes a bite out of it. He eats them cold, apparently. I have to put them in the toaster. They have to be crunchy.

"Well, I'm off, everyone. Au Revoir." He says.

"Wait, Daddy." Tori says. "Where are you going?"

"All of the LAPD police officers are spending the rest of the week in Vegas. We have a meeting on the first day, which is today. That's why I'm dressed like this." He says.

"Why do you have to go? Can't stay here with us?" She asks.

"Baby, crime never sleeps. We have to find a way to make it take a nap."

"Yeah, well crime may never sleep, but cops do!" She says, loudly.

"Damn straight. I love you all." He says, stepping out the door.

"Even me?!" I yell, quite cheery all of a sudden.

"Yes, Cat. Even you." He laughs and leaves.

Mrs. Vega is done with our omelets and sets them on the kitchen table. I slowly pick at it and slide a piece into my mouth. Even though it tastes great, I can tell that I won't be able to eat it all. Tori, on the other hand, is wolfing hers down. She acts like she's been trapped in a cave with nothing to eat for a week. I don't know how she's doing it. I try my best to eat the omelet, but it's to no avail.

"Is it not good, Cat?" Mrs. Vega asks.

"Oh, Mrs. Vega, no, it's delicious. My stomach is just very sensitive right now and I'm being very careful about how much food I put on it. I'm sure you can understand. I want to eat it so badly, but it looks like Tori has room for more, so when I'm through, she can have mine." I say.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure that I didn't do a bad job." She smiles.

"There's no need to worry about that. Tori, I think I'm through. Do you want mine?" I ask.

"Scoot it on over." She says. And as soon as I blink, my omelet's gone. Remind me never to let her near my sweet snacks. I'll fight her over those things. Of course, I keep most of them in my bra. And I don't think she'd go digging around in there.

"Mother, those were very good. Thank you." Tori says.

"Thank you, Tori. Look, girls, I hate to do this to you, but I have to go down state to see your grandmother in San Diego. I'll be down there until Saturday. That's just a couple of days, okay?" Mrs. Vega asks.

"Mom, no! Who's going to take care of us?!" Tori asks.

"Well, Trina will still be here." She says.

"I heard my name. Who said my name?" Trina asks, coming from upstairs.

"Trina, I need you to take care of Cat and Tori for a couple of days. I'm going to San Francisco to see your grandmother and there isn't going to be anyone here to take care of them while they're sick. Could you take care of them?" Mrs. Vega asks.

"Wait, they're sick?" We nod. "There's no way I'm getting sick just for them. No way in the world." She says. I've never been a fan of Trina. But luckily she has **some **good qualities.

"Trina, please. We're miserable here." I plead with her.

"Yeah, and I'm going to be miserable when you both get me sick." She says, so conceitedly.

"Trina, you are going to take care of them, and that's final." Mrs. Vega says, sternly.

"But…"

"I said… that's final." Not another word was spoken about it.

After a little while, Tori's mom was all packed up and ready to go. Up in Tori's room, we were actually able to hear the sound of the car pulling away.

"We're going to be miserable over these next few days. I hope you know that." Tori deadpans.

"Realized it a long time ago, sister." I say. "At least we have each other to work with. Maybe we can get through it."

"Yes… maybe."

**So what did you all think? Did anyone else sense the slight sexual tension between Tori and Cat? (insert evil laugh here) I value your opinions. Review! Give me a good late Christmas present. Or you could give me a New Years present. Do they even give those out? I think that's just kisses at midnight. Anyway... enough talking. REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here you go guys. Hope you enjoy this one!**

"Seen it. Seen it. Seen it. Stupid. Seen it. Don't care to see it." I'm a channel surfer. I love to just sit there and flip through the channels one by one. I don't know why, but I've always liked it. But now, it's just boring and frustrating. "Tori, there's nothing on TV!" I say, throwing the remote on her red couch.

"Oh, really? Well, it is Thursday night. There's never anything on TV on Thursdays." She says, sniffing. She's gotten worse. She was just cramping up the other day. Me? I've stayed the same. My fever has gone down from 102 to 101. But that's about the only difference. Our health condition just isn't improving.

"Wait, did you say today is Thursday?" I ask.

"Yeah, why?"

"The world's funniest disasters is on tonight! We should call Jade!" I yell, but then I immediately feels sick to my stomach. I double over in pain.

"Do you think Jade would come over here while we're sick? Do you think any of the gang would want to come over here? I know Jade pretty well. She'd probably have a freaking heart attack if one of us sneezed on her. She'd go on a killing spree. I can see the headline now. 'Germaphobe gets sneezed on; slays five.'" I laugh at her joke.

"I know, but… Tori, I've been cooped up in this house for forever!" I whine. "And I could use a little time out. I mean, is that fair?"

"Cat, no, that's…" She stops.

"Fair? Fine? Cool? Fye?" I rattle off a bunch of synonyms for the work "okay".

"Cat, I just don't know if this is the right time for us to be going out and being overly active. We're still pretty sick, you know?" She says. I guess she's right, but I want to go out!

"But, Tori…"

"No buts, Cat. What did I say to you when we left school on Tuesday?" I stare at her blankly. I remember what she said. But I wasn't about to tell her that. "I told you that I'd take care of you. Now, answer me this: would I be taking good care of you if I let you go out and be exposed to germs while you were sick? What if you went out and touched something that could make you sicker than you already are?"

"Well… I…" I'm having a hard time figuring out something to say back that would make some sort of sense.

"That's what I thought. But I'm not saying we can't have fun. I have a cabinet full of movies that we can watch. I've got Dreamworks Animation movies, old Looney Tunes cartoons, Tom and Jerry, Disney Princesses…"

"DISNEY!" I scream. My stomach churns, but I'm way too excited to really care. "What kinda Disney Princess movies do you have?" I ask, bouncing up and down on the couch.

"Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid…"

"I wanna watch the Little Mermaid!"

"Okay, Cat. The movies are upstairs in my bedroom. You know that little wooden cabinet above my TV? They're in there. I have all of the Disney Princesses movies. Just go up there and find the Little Mermaid or whichever one you want, okay?" I nod. "Kay. Well, while you're doing that, I think I'll make some snacks and some popcorn. How does that sound?" She asks.

"Awesome. I'll be right back." I smile.

"Hurry! The popcorn will be done really soon!"

"Kay, Kay." I yell out my trademark response as I climb the stairs to Tori's room. I don't know what made me start using that catch phrase, but I just did one day and it stuck. Can't explain why, though.

"MOVE!" Trina suddenly comes into view and pushes me onto the floor. She runs downstairs screaming Tori's name. How rude. Maybe an excuse me would've been better. Meanie.

I peal myself off the floor and jog into Tori's room. Ah, there's the wooden cabinet she was talking about. I pull the doors open and look through all of the DVD's she has in there. This girl knows how to collect movies. She has all the Madea movies. She has all three Transformers movies. She has all of the Disney Princess movies. She's got quite a compilation here.

"Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White." I name the movies out loud and to myself. I'm beginning to think she doesn't have the Little Mermaid. "Ah!" I pull out the Little Mermaid and rush out to the hallway and down the stairs.

On the ground level, Tori and Trina are yelling at each other in the kitchen. So pleasant.

"Trina, I don't even know what you're talking about!" Tori yells.

"Don't tell me that! Of course you know what I'm talking about." Trina retorts.

Tori scoffs, and rolls her eyes. "I really, really don't. Could you please fill me in on what's going on here?! I'm being bombarded with a bunch of accusations and I don't even know what I'm being accused of! "Could you, perhaps, enlighten me a little bit?!"

"Yesterday, I put a tube of mascara on my vanity in my bathroom and it's gone now. I wonder who might've taken it." Trina says, sarcastically.

"Trina, if you think I took your…"

"Oh, I don't think. I know. You took my mascara and you know it! That was good stuff, too!" She yells.

"Listen, I'm sick. Why in the world would I need your damn mascara?!"

"You know why. Everyone knows why." Trina acts like she's stating the obvious.

"Everyone but me." Tori says.

"No, everyone including you knows, Tori. You stole my mascara so you could look good playing doctor for your little crush on Red up there." Trina spits. She sounds really angry. Tori doesn't move for a moment.

"Yeah, well…"

She caught her.

"Yeah, uh, huh." Trina smiles.

That's funny. Tori never told me she had a crush on someone. Wait… why did… hang on. What did she say, exactly? "You wanted to look good playing doctor for your little crush on Red up there."

Hmmm… Crush… doctor… that means someone she knows is sick. Crush… doctor… sick… red… NOOOO! My eyes go wide in shock. There's no way. I slowly back up the stairs and re-enter Tori's purple room.

I sit down on the floor with my chin to my knees, thinking about what I just heard. All those things Tori said the other day… "I wouldn't be able to look you in the eye without thinking about it." "I wouldn't want to see your… lady goods." They we all real thoughts of hers. She wasn't kidding. She was… I gulp… thinking about… me.

How could it be? Tori… has a crush on me? I mean, I know she loves me and stuff. But I always thought it was just as a friend. I'm not trying to say she's in love with me, of course, but still yet. I just can't believe it. After finding out what I just found out, how am I going to be able to face her when I go back downstairs?

I peak out of the door and listen closely to the conversation going on downstairs.

"Look, Trina. Yes, I stole your stupid mascara to look good for her. But she cannot know, okay? You can't tell Cat anything." She says.

I fall back into the room and sit against the wall. I curl up in the fetal position. I'm just so shocked. When she was saying those things, I kind of had a suspicion, but I just let it go with the general, "Tori says some pretty weird stuff sometimes" kind of attitude.

I hear feet stomp up the stairs and then I hear a door slam. I assume it was Trina's. Still in the fetal position, I hear Tori yell up… "Cat! Are you coming?!" I can't bring myself to answer. "Cat!" She yells again. Still, I give no answer.

Next thing I know, she's running upstairs. Like, literally running up the stairs.

"Cat?!" She sees me in the fetal position and starts to panic. "Oh, my god! What's wrong?" She asks, shaking.

Better think of something quick, Valentine. "I don't feel good. I think I need to lie down, Tori." I guess that excuse works. Not a very good way to keep her from worrying, though. Now that I know she has a crush on me, I feel like I'm going to have to walk on eggshells around her. If I give her too much reason to worry, she'll go crazy and probably get sicker. I wouldn't want that for her.

"Okay, Cat. Get up on the bed and we can go to sleep." I nod. I pick myself up, climb into bed, and pull the covers over me. She climbs in behind me and cuddles me from behind. I can only imagine what she's thinking about. It's going to be rough over the next few days.

A few hours later, I wake up and look at the clock. It's only nine-thirty. I look at my phone and see an unread message from Jade. It says, **"Beck, Andre, Robbie and I are coming over there. You are at Tori's house, aren't you? What we plan on doing is going over to Bed, Bath, and Yonder to sniff all of the candle. If you guys want to go, you can. But if you don't, you still have to. Respond ASAP."**

Why the frick is Jade texting me about going to Bed, Bath, and Yonder? She knows Tori and I are sick. Nevertheless, I pick up my Pearphone and start typing a new text message out.

**"Jade, you know Tori and I are sick, don't you?" **I press send. I get a response about thirty seconds later.

**"Since when do I care if anyone is sick? I mean, c'mon, Cat. We've been friends for forever. You should know me really well by now. Do you want to go or not?" **She asks.

**"Hang on. Let me ask Tori if she wants to go. I'll only go if she goes." **I lay my phone down on the bed and gently shake Tori from her slumber.

"No, Mom! I don't want pancakes for breakfast!" She snaps, still half asleep. I laugh internally, yet I still try to wake her. Please, God, tell me she isn't grumpy when she wakes up.

"Tori, wake up. I need to ask you something." I whisper.

She slowly turns over, eyebrows arched, hair ruffled, and voice raspy. "What?" She asks. Yeah. She's grumpy when she gets up. I guess she has a right to be. She is sick, after all.

"Jade just texted me and asked me if we wanted to go to Bed, Bath, and Yonder with them. Do you want to go? I don't want to go if you don't." I smile.

"Cat… she knows we're sick, right?"

"Yeah, I asked her if she knew. And then she said, 'since when do I care if anyone is sick'. Then I told her that I'd ask you what you wanted to do. And… here we are." I finish.

"Umm… look… I, uh… yeah, I guess we can go. I mean, if you want to go, we can go. I guess, like you said, we've been cooped up in this house for a while and it's time we got some fresh air. So, yeah… get up and get dressed. You are feeling better, right?" She asks as her head falls back down on her pillow.

"Yeah, hundred percent." I say. Then I text Jade back, not getting much of a response from her. All she said was, **"K"**. I hate that! That's not a response. It's a letter.

"Wait… a hundred percent as in you feel healthy? Or are you just feeling better than you were earlier?" She asks, going into her closet.

"I'm feeling better than I was earlier." I say. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have an extra bra I could borrow just for tonight?" There's a pause. Then a bra comes flying out of her closet. I guess she threw it at me. I take the bra I'm wearing off from under my shirt and put the new one on.

It's perfect. Thanks, Tori. Umm… do you have a sweatshirt I could borrow, as well?" I bite my lip.

"Would you like a pair of jeans, too?" She jokes, throwing me a Hollywood Arts sweatshirt.

"No, your legs are too long. Those jeans would be way too big in the legs." I laugh.

"You do have some jeans or something, right? Because Trina's would probably fit you. This ass might be a bit stretched out though." She chuckles.

"I have these sweatpants right here. They're a little dirty because I've been wearing them for the past few days, so…"

"Do you want to borrow some of Trina's sweatpants? It wouldn't be any trouble. You'll just have to deal with her when she wakes up tomorrow and sees you in her sweatpants." She offers.

"That sounds like a lot of trouble. I'm going to have to deal with Trina… in the morning… after she gets up? She'll be really grumpy." I whine.

"Well, I guess I can tell her that I borrowed them. Would that work?" She smiles. Wow. The crush must be real. Because she wouldn't do that for just anyone.

"Tori, that would be awesome. Thank you so much!"

"Sure, Cat." She looks at me smiling with her perfectly white teeth. They just emphasize the perfectness of her cheekbones. You wouldn't think that simple things like cheekbones would affect someone appearance so much, but it does. It really, **really **does.

Now that I think about it, it doesn't surprise me that she's doing that for me. She does have a crush on me, after all. I'm still a bit shocked, but I'm dealing with it.

"Let me go get them real quick. I'll be right back." She runs out of the room and slowly opens the door to Trina's dark room, which is just across the hall. She creeps inside and shuts the door. Then I wait.

While waiting, I plop down onto Tori's bed and close my eyes. I really don't feel good. But Jade really wants me to go to Bed, Bath, and Yonder with her, Andre, Jade, Robbie, and Beck.

I hope Robbie doesn't bring Rex. He's just a way for Robbie to convey what he's feeling without really having to say it himself. I wish Robbie would just learn to embrace himself and learn that it's okay to be him; that not everyone is going to like him; that the opinions of people he doesn't care about don't matter; that the only things he needs to worry about are family and friends. I just wish he could learn to be himself, by himself, not through a puppet.

Next thing I know, a door opening and shutting takes me out of my zone. Tori walks through the door with a pair of pink sweatpants. She smiles and hands them to me. They are extremely soft. They feel like a pillow. These are literally soft enough to sleep on.

"Thanks, Tori. You didn't have any trouble in there, did you?" I ask.

"No… just got a stuffed animal thrown at my head." She laughs.

"Oh, my god!"

"Yeah, I know! She just…"

"No stuffed animal should ever be thrown for any reason… ever." I'm messing with her.

"Well thanks for worrying about me." She rolls her eyes.

"Tori, I'm just messing with you. Why did she throw a stuffed animal at you? Even better of a question: Trina has stuffed animals? I mean, she doesn't seem like the kind of person that would have stuffed animals." I say.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean… look at me. I have an extreme stuffed animal collection. But I'm me. I love pink and stuff like that. And Trina… is the exact opposite of me… and she has stuffed animals?"

"She only has a few. She has less than me. And I have way less than you. So… do the math."

"You're telling me to do the math? I have a C in Mrs. Curfman's class. I'm doing really shizzy in Math. So… I'm just going to say that she has a whole lot less than me." I go to put on the sweatpants, but then realize that Tori is still there. And staring. I clear my throat, grabbing her attention.

"Uh, Tori… do you mind? I'd kinda like to change… not in front of you." I say.

"Oh, yeah. Sure… yeah, I'll just be in the bathroom. Just let me know when Jade and everyone gets here. I just need to… take care of some stuff." She says.

"Okay, I'll let you know. Have fun in the bathroom." I laugh.

With that, I remove my dirty sweatpants and slip on Trina's soft, pink ones. They're so soft! Way more comfortable than mine ever were. I run my fingers through my hair, straightening it out so that it doesn't look awful or like I just woke up, and then I go downstairs.

I slowly walk down the steps, trying my best to not make noise. I walk into the kitchen and look in Tori's fridge. I grab a thing of yogurt out of the door and a spoon from the utensil drawer and eat the few bites that are in the container. Stupid Yoplait. They seriously need to make a bigger sized yogurt container. Suddenly, a here a car door shuts and moments later, the doorbell rings.

I run to the front door after I throw away the yogurt. I open it and Andre is there to greet me.

"Hey, Little Red." He smiles. "I would hug you, but you're sick."

"No, I understand. I'm hugging you in my mind." I say. "Tori will be down in a minute. She said that she had to use the bathroom… and to let her know when you got here. Hang on just a second." He nods as I run to the base of the stairs.

"Tori! They're here!" I yell.

"Okay!" She responds. I hear her feet shuffling on the floor, and then I see her run down the stairs and out the door. "Come on!" She says.

"She is sick, right?" Andre asks.

"Yeah, she is." I answer.

"But sick people don't ever run. Why was she running? She just sprinted out the door." I can tell he's really confused.

"I have no clue." I walk outside and get into Andre's car. It's loud. I think Beck and Jade are fighting again. Andre turns back to me.

"Oh, yeah… forgot to tell you guys that Beck and Jade are fighting again." I was right.

"Well, this should be fun." Tori says. Her face is red. It looks like she was hot. She said she had to do something in the bathroom. What was she doing? Oh, well.

"I said I don't like the ocean!" Jade yells.

"Okay, Jade! That's fine! I was just bringing something up we could do when we're on break! But could you just give it a chance?" Beck pleads.

"No! You know what happened when I was seven and went into the ocean!"

"Okay… I've said it many times and I'll say it a lot more over the time we're together. THE DOLPHIN WAS JUST BEING FRIENDLY!" He screams.

"I don't care! It touched me." She says, sounding somewhat hurt.

"I'm sorry," Tori says, "I've never heard this whole story. The dolphin… touched her?"

Beck sighs. "You see, my dad has a boat that he allows me to use once a month if I maintain my grades. So one day, to celebrate the end of our sophomore year, my dad told me I could take Jade out on the boat. Well, we got out there, and someone…" he looks at Jade when he says this, "decided she wanted to go swimming. We got off the boat and everything was going great. And then this dolphin came up to us. It started poking at us and we kinda petted it to see if it would go away. But needless to say, it didn't."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why Jade said she was touched." Andre says.

"Well… when it didn't go away, it kind of… snuck up Jade's bikini top." Beck says.

"It grabbed me! I'm telling you! It grabbed my tits!" She screams, bringing her knees up to her chin.

Everyone, including me, her best friend, is cracking up at the story. Just the pure silliness of it all is enough to die laughing at. Now, I normally don't laugh at people and their problems, but this… I mean, Jade won't go in the ocean because a dolphin was curious. The thing probably doesn't even know what it was doing. It's just crazy.

"So that's why you won't go in the ocean? Because some pervy dolphin felt you up?" And there's Rex, sitting in Robbie's lap.

"Shut up, you stupid puppet." Jade barks.

"He doesn't like to be called a puppet!" And there's the hand inside the puppet. It's Robbie.

"I don't give a shit!" she says, "You better shut that thing up! I'll throw him in the river."

We didn't hear much else from Rex for the rest of the ride… or the night. And I do have to say, even though I'm sick, I'm having a lot of fun. I don't know about Tori, though.

Walking into the store, all we see are a bunch of rugs.

"Hey, Rob, that rug looks like your hair." Rex says.

"There's a boy in my Neighborhood named Dice that has hair that looks like that. He's a hair model." I snicker.

"No more insults to anyone, or I'm taking away your North Ridge girls for a month. You can't see any of them for a month." Robbie threatens.

"No North Ridge girls? Seriously?" Rex asks.

"If you keep insulting people, yes."

"I'll shut up."

"Thank God." Jade says.

"Anybody wanna go sniff the candles?" Andre asks.

"I'll go. Anyone else?" Beck move over beside him.

Everyone starts walking in the direction of Andre and Beck. I guess they assumed that everyone wanted to go with them. There are literally hundreds of candles. There is just a huge table dedicated to them. They range from sweet vanilla scented to apple-cinnamon. They all smell so good!

"Cat, smell this one." Jade hands me a candle. It says it smells like brownies. Now, usually, I'd go crazy. But when I smelled that candle, I literally almost throw up. It made me sick to my stomach. It's not that it smelled bad, it's just that my stomach is really sensitive right now. My skin turns pale. Robbie comes over to wrap his arm around me.

"You feeling okay, Cat? You don't look so good." Robbie says.

"I… I think that candle made me sick." I tremble.

Tori glares at Robbie. She's getting jealous seeing him touching me. I can see it in her eyes.

"Excuse me, I think I need to use the restroom." Tori says.

"But you just went before we left." Andre says.

"I have to go again!" She yells.

No she doesn't. She needs to get away from me and Robbie. Yes, I know that Robbie likes me. How? Because he kissed me at Cow Wow. And for a minute there, I thought I liked him. But I never liked him enough to act on it.

"I'm going to check on her." I say, pulling away from Robbie.

"She's just going to the bathroom." Jade says.

"Maybe she needs toilet paper!"

I break from the group and find the ladies' restroom way in the back. I push the squeaky door open and I see Tori hunched over the sink.

"How'd you find me?" Tori asks.

"You said you were going to the bathroom." I laugh. "And you ran off in this direction. Kinda gave yourself away."

"What's up? Can't you see I'm using the bathroom?"

"Nope. What I see is a girl who's hunched over a sink that looks like she's upset about something. I don't see anyone using the bathroom in here. What's wrong with you?" I know exactly what's wrong. She saw Robbie close to me and got jealous.

"Nothing, why?" She says.

"Look, Tori… I know I'm an airhead. I know this. And I like it that way. But I'm not blind. And I can see that there's something wrong with you. There's no sense in lying about it." I say.

"I'm not lying." She deadpans.

"And there's another lie."

"What does it matter to you?" She asks, in a Jade-like tone.

"What does it matter to me? Tori, you're my best friend. Last time I checked, best friends cared about each other. So please… tell me what's wrong."

After a minute, she answers. "I'm on my period."

Real clever. "Your period." I repeat.

"Yes, that's right." I can tell that was made up.

"Sure…"

"I'm going back out there." She walks out the door with another word.

I throw my arms in the air in frustration. Not frustration because I don't know what she's thinking, but because she won't admit it. I'm not mad that she likes me. We've been through a lot together. It's understandable.

"Well, hey," I yell after her, "I'VE GOT AN EXTRA TAMPON IF YOU NEED IT!" I laugh.

Then, a little old lady comes out of a stall. She's eyeing me like I said something offensive to her. Maybe that whole tampon thing was a little gross.

"What are you looking at?" I ask. She runs out of the bathroom. Apparently I scared her or something.

I guess someone else was in here.

**So there's that one! I know I said on my Twitter ( broncoboy13FF) that I'd get this chapter up and running. But sadly, life happens. Kinda had a little problem with one of my friends. She did something that was, in iCarly terms, pretty janked up. But it's over now. Tell me how you all liked this one!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guys, I am so sorry I haven't updated. Yes, I'm still alive. But school has been killing me! I've been so tired lately that I can barely concentrate on what I'm doing. It's terrible. So anyway…**

**People, I'd just like to say that this chapter is dedicated to Waitwhathuh. She has really helped me become the writer I am now, not to say I'm a spectacular writer or anything.**

**Anyway, here we go.**

The rest of the night went well enough, I guess. There was a slight awkwardness following the group all night. It just didn't feel right after I tried to talk to Tori. We stayed a little while longer and left. They were closing anyway.

Remember when Nurse Cotter told me that I couldn't have any chocolate or candy? Nothing unhealthy like that. Well… I was going to follow her orders. But then I though, eh, I really don't care. And I really want a piece of chocolate. I miss the way it tastes, feels, melts in my mouth. So… needless to say… I bought one at Bed, Bath, and Yonder. Yes, they sell chocolate. They only sell Mr. Goodbar, though. They stink. But I needed chocolate. So I settled for a Mr. Goodbar. No one tell Tori. She'll murder me.

"Well, this was fun. Maybe we should do it again when everyone's healthy." Beck says.

"Guys, I'm sorry I was a bummer tonight. I just don't feel good." Tori says, weakly.

"Yeah, she's on her… period, guys." I give her a knowing look. She just rolls her eyes. She knows that I know she's keeping something from me. Hide it all you want to, sister. It'll come out eventually.

We all pile into Andre's car and Beck and Jade start arguing again.

"No, I will not wrestle with a pig!" Beck yells.

"What if I pay you?!" Jade retorts.

"I don't care if you pay me a thousand dollars! I'm not going to do it!"

"Wait, why do you want him to wrestle a pig?" Andre asks.

"Because it would be hilarious." Simply enough, Jade answers.

"But he's your boyfriend! Why would you want to make him do that?" Tori asks.

"Why don't you butt your little sick self out of this, Vega." Jade says, sternly.

"Jade! Don't be mean!" I scold her. She backs down. Strangely enough, I'm really the only one who can tame Jade. And when I say tame, I don't mean that I can turn her into this wonderful person that everyone loves. What I mean when I say "tamed" is that I can calm her down just enough to where she won't bite someone's head off.

"Hey, we're almost to your house Tori. Just about five more minutes and we'll be there, okay?" Andre says, trying to make her feel better. She nods. Maybe being back in her own bed will make her feel better.

The drive to Tori's was fast. I think Andre was trying to rush getting everyone home to avoid yet another episode with Beck and Jade. I don't blame him, honestly. It felt like less than five minutes to Tori's house, actually. No one really talked except Beck and Jade. So when Andre pulled into Tori's driveway, I quickly got out and let Tori follow behind me.

With a smirk, I say to Andre, "Have fun with all this." I'm referring to Beck and Jade's constant bickering. He rolls his eyes and Robbie waves. Then, they're gone, and it's just Tori and me. I love being around her, but since I found out about her little crush… it's been a tad bit awkward.

We enter her house and shut and lock the door. She walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge.

"I'm hungry, what about you?" She asks. She actually seems really peppy. Has she been sick at all this entire time?

"I thought your stomach was messed up." I say, knowingly. I eye her.

She stutters for a moment and then manages to get out, "Well… I, uh… I still need to get something on my stomach." Smooth.

I nod and smirk. I think she knows that I know. I just don't think she's admitting it.

"While I'm fixing this, why don't you go up in my room and wait for me." She says.

"And do what, exactly?"

"Just… I don't know. Draw or something." She shrugs. She's trying too hard. She's sniffling and faking a stuffed up nose. She's overdoing it.

"Okay!" I say, trying to act like my normal self. "I think I'll draw a big pink elephant!"

With that, I run up the steps and into Tori's purple bedroom. Does she even have any paper in here? I have no clue where it may be. I look in her top dresser drawer and nothing. I look in her closet… nothing. Then I look in her nightstand. Eureka!

There's a whole big bunch of paper in there. I open up the notebook and start flipping through the pages. I guess I'm just being nosey… seeing what Tori uses this thing for. Wow. There's a whole lot of writing in this. The first one I come across reads….

_"_ _Dear You,  
Just so we're clear  
there's a reason why your here  
you are here so I can have  
the greatest gift and I'm so glad_

But just so you know  
I want you to see  
how much you truly mean to me

Let's see how should I start?  
First, lets talk about the way you affected my heart  
I can't think straight when you are near  
For I am blinded with fear

The fear of you finding out  
what I'm trying so hard to hide  
my feelings for you,  
are staying locked up on the inside

Sometimes you make me want to sing  
sometimes you make me want to shout  
all I know is  
when you're around  
I get butterflies

I wonder how you feel  
if anything I'm feeling is real  
or is this all a dream?  
Please God, put me out of my misery

Because surely I must be dreaming  
because, you are a dream  
of perfection in every way

The way I feel about you,  
I cannot even begin to say

Are roses always red?  
And do violets have to be blue?  
But the one true thing I know,  
is that

I'm in love with you

not because of your looks  
even though that's partly it  
I love you for what's inside  
and hopefully one day, you'll be all mine

This had to be for me. It had to be. Another says,

"_Amazing and beautiful  
not a flower or tree  
Much prettier than that  
and only I can see_

Loving and caring  
right down to the core  
Filling me with happiness  
and so much more

Eyes are so stunning  
I can't look away  
Gorgeous and shining  
I'm here to stay

Here in your arms  
is where I belong  
The beating of your heart  
is like a song"

That was unbelievable. Suddenly, after I finish the second poem, I hear Tori's feet walking into the room. When she sees what I'm doing, she jerks the notebook out of my hands with a grunt.

"Cat, those are private." She scolds.

"I'm sorry, Tori. I was just trying to find some paper to draw my pretty pink elephant on." I say, innocently. Perks of being looked at as a kid, ladies and gentlemen.

"It's okay. But you should've asked me."

"I know. I will next time. What did you make?" I ask.

"Oh, nothing. I just got a thing of yogurt."

"I had one of those before we left. They don't put enough in there."

"I know. They really screw you, don't they?" I nod. "Are you ready for bed?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm so tired!" I run over to Tori's bed and jump onto it, landing face down on a pillow. I hear her laugh at my silliness which makes me laugh. I love it when she giggles. It's so cute. Face still down in the pillow, I hear the lamp in her room switch off and feel her wiggling around in bed, trying to get comfortable.

She cuddles near me again. Oh, God. Here we go again. There's no telling what she could be thinking about.

"Goodnight, Cat." She says, softly.

"Night."

She stirs behind me and within ten minutes, she's asleep. I begin to hear her snore lightly and roll over onto her side. The snoring dissipates and finally begins to stop moving.

I can't go to sleep. For the life of me, I just can't go to sleep. And the longer I sit there and think, I begin to wonder about that book… journal or whatever it is. I just can't believe she feels that way about me. How could someone say so many wonderful things about me? No one ever says anything like those wonderful words about me.

With the thought stuck in my head, I slowly creep out of the bed and enter Tori's nightstand. She kicks her feet slightly. I must have woken her up.

"Cat, where are you going?" She asks, sleepily.

"Oh, uh… I kicked one of my socks off and now I can't find it." I lie. Smooth one, Valentine.

"Oh, okay." She rolls over. I guess she went back to sleep because I don't hear her make another sound.

I pull the drawer of her nightstand open and remove the notebook.

"Hey, Tori, I'm going to the bathroom." No answer. Okay, then. I walk to the door and make sure no one is there. I can hear Trina snoring loudly. So I creep to the bathroom, lock the door, and sit down on the edge of the shower.

I slowly open the notebook and look at page one. Is this just a binder full of poems about me or is it just her releasing her feelings onto paper?

_"Today, Cat and I went to Nozu. She ordered some egg drop soup, while I ordered some beef with snow peas. It was so good. Cat wore a pink tank top with a black sports bra underneath… sexy. She also sported some short shorts that kinda showed off her rear end."_

Oh, my God.

_"After we ate, we sang some karaoke. The song we sang was called "Because of You", by Kelly Clarkson. Cat's voice carried throughout the whole restaurant. Everyone was cheering. I told he that it was all for her, but she insisted that it was for both of us."_

I remember that day. They really were cheering for the both of us. She always puts her voice down and says that I can sing so much better than her. It's not that I can sing better than her, we just have a different singing style.

_"I swear that it wasn't for me. He voice was so angelic. We rarely sing together outside of the car and when we do, we just play around. We never really try. But when she got up there… she stunned me. It was just an amazing day."_

The next entry really wasn't a big deal.

_"Nothing big happened today. Jade smacked me and then threw a grapefruit at my boob. Was that her way of telling me that I'm flat chested? Like her way of saying that I need boobs the size of grapefruits? Not a whole lot of Cat today. But she passed me and said hi in the hallway today. She gave me the prettiest smile. She's so beautiful."_

The next one, though….

_"Today, Cat hugged me. I bought her some ice cream which made her really happy. I'm glad I could make her smile. Then we went swimming. Cat's bathing suit was so small. It really made me want to grab her and rip it off of her. If I could just get my hands on those…"_

I had to shut the book. That was just too much. I had no clue just how graphic her thoughts about me were. I'm just so confused about everything right now.

Feeling a little bold, I open the book again and start reading.

_"….if I could get my hands on those breasts, my life would be completed. I'd settle for a date. But it appears that she's straight as an arrow. I guess it's never going to happen. Face it, Tori. It's just not meant to be."_

There's a sudden knock on the door.

"Cat… are you in there? Are you okay? I just woke up and you were gone." Tori is out there! Oh my god. She's going to know I've been reading her journal. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!

"Uh, yeah… Uh, I'm fine. I just… my stomach is a little irritated. I just need to get some stuff out. I'll be back in there in a minute, okay?" My stomach is irritated. But I'm not sick. I'm just really shocked. So that makes me nauseas. Hopefully I won't go non-conscious.

"Okay… well I'm just going to go back to bed, then. Just take as long as you need. Try to get it all out. Eat some prunes or something. There are some in the pantry downstairs." She says, sleep in her voice.

"Kay, roger that, awesome."

"Oh, did you find your sock?"

"What sock? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I found it." I'm just getting good at covering stuff up with lies. I'm not proud of it though.

"Okay, cool. I guess I'll just go back to bed then." She walks away from the door.

I continue to read.

_"Today was hard. I saw Cat hugging Robbie. The little weasel. Stealing Cat from me. But wait… how could he be stealing her from me if I never had her. I guess now I get it. I never had her and I never will. But… I… yes… I do. I love her. I LOVE HER!"_

I slam the book shut again. She loves me? Tori? My best friend, Tori? The girl who I would do anything for? That girl loves me? I always knew she loved me like a friend. But I never in a million years thought she would love me any more than that.

I'm in there for another hour… just reading… and reading… and reading. I'm ashamed of it. I really am… invading someone's personal privacy usually isn't my thing. But this… this is different. This is a girl that loves me. And I need to know everything she feels so I know how to go about everything. She loves me. I just can't believe it.

After a few more minutes of thinking, I get up off the edge of the shower and walk towards the door. I make sure no one is out there and shut off the light. Walking back into Tori's room, I can hear her breathing heavily. That means she's asleep.

I tip toe over to her side of the bed and gently put her journal back into her nightstand drawer.

"Cat." I hear. Oh my God. She caught me. "Cat." Again, I hear my name. "Oh, yes, Cat." I'm so confused. "Oh, Cat, harder!" She's sleep talking. "Oh, my God, Cat! That feels so good."

She's dreaming about having sex with me! She finally stops moaning after a while. I guess I made her… you know. Don't get me wrong, I've had a few little dreams about Tori and Jade before, if you know what I mean. But instantly, I make myself get up. Because I know that I shouldn't be thinking about having sex with Tori and Jade.

Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, I decide that it'd be best if I slept on the couch. I grab a couple of pillows from Tori's bed and walk downstairs. There should be blankets down there.

I quietly walk down the steps and throw the pillows on the couch. I grab the remote and turn it on Nickelodeon. Celebrities under water is on, so I leave it there. David Schwimmer is the celebrity and he's been under water for ten minutes. Wait… he's not breathing. Well, I guess there's not going to be a Friends reunion.

I pull a blanket from a chest and cover myself up. All I remember after that was seeing the next celebrity, Adam Sandler, go under water. Then I went non-conscious.

I wake up in the morning. I slept the whole night, at least. I look at the clock and it says that it's twelve-thirty in the afternoon. That's crazy. I never sleep that late… ever.

Feet are walking heavily on the steps. And there she is.

"Hey, Trina." I say, politely.

"It's about time you wake up." She snaps.

"Good morning to you, too." I say, turning away from her.

Right behind her comes Tori. She still has bed hair. It's cute.

"Good morning, Cat. Did you sleep down here?" She asks curiously.

"Yeah, I did." I say, yawning.

"Why?" Great. Now I have to lie again.

"My leg was getting restless and I didn't want to wake you up." I've been hanging around Jade too much. I'm getting too good at this.

"Oh, that was sweet of you." She smiles. "I kind of want to go swimming. Do you want to go swimming?" She asks.

What, so you can ogle me in a bikini?

"I don't know, Tori. We're just now starting to get a little better. Do you think it's wise to do that?" I ask.

"I don't care. Let's just have some fun!" Yeah, she just wants to see me in a bikini.

I sigh and roll my eyes. How could I say no to her?

"I guess. Do you have swimsuit I could borrow?"

"Yeah!" She runs upstairs and comes back in about thirty seconds. She throws me a white bikini with gold plated rings holding the top together. She deliberately gave me this swimsuit. It would make anyone look good.

"So you put that on while I go get changed, okay?" I nod as she runs off. I enter the downstairs bathroom and change. And I do admit… I look good in this swimsuit. I'd have a crush on myself if I saw me wearing it.

I look in the mirror, run a hand through my hair to straighten it a little, and then I exit, shutting the door behind me.

I walk out to the pool area where Trina is sitting in her own bikini. She really is more… blessed… than I am. You understand what I'm talking about, right? Then Tori comes out in a bright green swimsuit. Not gonna lie… she looks good. She really does.

"Trina, what are you doing out here?" Tori asks.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm doing the same thing you're doing out here. Getting some sun and showing off my magnificent body." She says. Trina is arrogant, but she's right. She does have a nice body. And I'm saying that in the straightest way possible.

"Trina, I'm not out here to show off my body." Tori protests. Right. Because everyone believes that.

Trina lowers her sunglasses and eyes Tori. I see her fists clench and the rest of her body tense up. Trina knows that she's showing off to me. I mean, It's nothing I haven't seen before. Yes, Tori has a great bikini body, and yes I've seen her like this before. It's nothing new. I've always known that Tori has a rocking body.

"Anyway… Cat… would you like me to rub some tanning oil on your back?" Tori asks. I hear Trina chuckle and Tori gives her the stink eye.

"Oh, Tori, I wouldn't want to put you through all that trouble. I was thinking about just tanning my front. My legs and stomach and stuff."

"Please, it's no trouble." She turns me around starts rubbing oil onto my back. All the while, I can hear Trina laughing, quietly. I just hope she doesn't ask me to rub it on her.

"There, done." She hands me the bottle. Here it comes.

"Could you get mine?" There it is.

"Man, can't you get Trina to do it?" I whine.

"I'm not touching her. Then I'd lose some of my prettiness." Trina spits.

"Can't lose what you never had." Tori says.

"I heard that!" Trina yells.

"I wasn't whispering." She rolls her eyes at her older sister and she turns around let me rub oil on her back. I squirt some out of the bottle and start rubbing it into her back.

"Oh." She coos. Is she getting aroused from this?

"What did you say, Tori?" I ask, knowing exactly what she did.

"I didn't say anything."

"I thought you said, 'oh'."

"I think you're hearing things, Cat. Maybe you should close your eyes." She says. What a liar.

And that's what I do as soon as I finish with her back. I lay back on the lawn chair and just catch some rays. It feels really nice to be back out in the sun again.

"Don't you love being out in the sun?" Tori asks.

"Absolutely. It feels great to get some fresh air. It's really something I've been missing for a while." I smile. "Wait… didn't you say you wanted to go swimming?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We're tanning… and not swimming."

"Doesn't tanning kind of go with swimming? I mean, you sit out, get a little sun, jump in the pool when you get too hot and then come back out once you're cool. Do you never do that?" She asks.

"Well, no, not really. I mainly stick to one thing. If I'm out here to tan, I tan, and only tan. If I'm out here to swim, I swim, and only swim. I never really mix both. Am I weird because of it, or something?" I'm starting to get a little paranoid.

"No, no, please don't think that. You aren't weird at all. You just think a certain way. And that certain way is different than the way I think. Don't worry about it." Tori laughs.

I smile and shrug it off.

Within a few minutes, Tori apparently gets too hot and decides to jump in the pool. She does a perfect dive into the deep end.

When she comes up from under the water, she throws her hair out of the way of her eyes and raises her arms into the air, expecting applause.

"Woo! Perfect ten!" I shout.

"Come on." She says.

"Come on, what?" I ask, confused.

"Get in the pool."

"No. I just want to tan."

"Cat, please?" She gives me the puppy dog face. That stupid puppy dog face.

"Fine." I roll my eyes and dive into the pool. Of course, it wasn't as good as hers, but nothing I do is as good as her.

"That's a ten." She smiles.

"No way, Tori. That freaking sucked." I protest.

"No, it actually looked very good."

"CANNON BALL!" This noise comes from Trina's direction. Next thing I know, there's a huge splash.

"Damn, Trina!" Tori scolds her.

"What?!" She asks, with her typical 'what did I do wrong' tone of voice.

"You made a huge splash and got water in my eyes!" I whine.

"Was I talking to you, Red?" She looks really mad at me for some reason.

"HEY!" Tori steps in front of me. "You don't talk to her like that. Understand?"

"I'll do whatever the hell I want. You know why? Because I know something that would ruin a relationship between you and a friend." She says.

"You don't know shit." Tori retorts.

"Oh, really? Would you like it to come out now? Because I'd be more than happy to say it."

Tori is motionless for a moment. Then she runs out of the pool and into the house without drying off.

I just look between the door and Trina.

"Trina…" I start.

"What?!" She yells. It makes me flinch.

"I know." I say.

"What do you know?" She asks.

"I know what would ruin a relationship between Tori and a friend."

"How much?"

"I know that she's in love with me." I say, quietly.

"And?"

"I… I don't know. I just don't."

**How did you all like that one? I was actually relatively please with it. I know it's moving a little slow, but don't worry, all the Cori is going to be there.**

**And by the way… my favorite football team, the Denver Broncos, is going to the Super Bowl! No one has any idea how excited I am! Anyway… read and review… the usual stuff. Later.**


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Trina asks.

I just revealed to her that I know about everything. Everything meaning, I know about all of the things she feels for me, along with all of the things she thinks about me. I open my mouth to answer.

"It's what it sounds like I mean. I just don't know." I say.

"Okay…." Trina pauses. "…Let's just start here. How do you know?"

"Well, I remember sitting on the couch feeling like crap while Tori was in the kitchen getting some popcorn ready for the movie we were going to watch. She told me to decide on a Disney Princess movie and I chose the Little Mermaid. She told me to go upstairs and get it out of the cabinet by her TV. So I went up there and was shoved to the ground by you." I look her in the eye.

"Sorry about that. She stole my mascara." She says.

"Oh, I know. Just hang on a minute. I'll get to that." I get out of the pool and sit in a chair on the patio while Trina stays in the water, arms crossed and resting on the edge of the pool.

"Okay, continue." She demands.

"Alright… after I picked myself up from the ground, I rolled my eyes and went into Tori's room and looked in the cabinet and found the movie after a while of looking. Then I exited the room and began to walk downstairs. And then I heard you yelling at Tori." I explain.

Her face changes… like she realized what I had heard. She still urged me to tell her the rest of the story. I'm actually having difficulty understanding why Trina is even listening to me when she could be off catching up on her "beauty sleep" or rubbing mayonnaise all over her face, because it "helps get rid of pimples" or something.

"You were yelling at her about your mascara and I didn't want to get dragged in the middle of it, so I hid on the stairs to where you couldn't see me. Then you kept accusing her of stealing the mascara and I really thought you were just making it up. But then you said, 'You stole my mascara so you could look good playing doctor for your little crush on Red up there.' And that's when I knew. So…"

"I'm sorry you heard that." She apologizes. I don't know why, though.

"What are you apologizing for? I'm not mad at you or anything. It's not your fault I overheard you."

"Why are you not mad?" She asks.

"I don't know." I answer.

"Well, you're just full of 'I don't knows' today, aren't you?"

"You do understand that this is a very confusing time for me, right?"

"Why would it be confusing for you?"

"Because I may or may not feel the same for her, as well. I don't know. That's where the 'I don't knows' come from." I whine.

"Wait, are you saying that you may like Tori, too?" She's shocked.

"I may. I may not. That's what is so confusing. I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Really, I know this. So imagine being me, who isn't overly smart, trying to sort through all this. It's a wonder I haven't killed myself." I laugh, slightly. So does Trina.

"Yeah, don't go doing that. Tori would kill herself, too."

"She likes me that much, huh?"

"Likes? Likes is an understatement. I just don't think you know how much she's willing to do to make you happy, Cat. She loves you." Motionless. I'm motionless. Although I knew that she loved me by reading the journals, hearing it come out of Trina's mouth really lets me know that this is, in fact, real.

"Every day when she gets home she'll say, 'Cat and I did this, and Cat said this today. It was so funny! Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat.' Everything is about you. I don't think you'll ever like her the… love her the way she loves you. You're so special to her, Cat."

"I've never been referred to as special… unless someone was talking about my intelligence." I say.

"Well, apparently she thinks you're special. Because if you weren't, she wouldn't come home crying, devastated when she knows she can't date you." This floors me. "She comes home to me… sobbing… wailing… because she knows that you could never like her in return."

"I feel so bad. Making her cry… that was the last thing I ever wanted to do as her best friend. No, I take that back. The last thing I wanted to do as her best friend was to hurt her. I guess that kinda ties into the whole crying thing."

"Cat, you didn't hurt her!" She says. "You didn't make her cry. She is crying because she is hurting, yes. But she's hurting because she can't make herself let go. She won't do it, Red. She just has this everlasting hope that " She says.

"Trina, I don't know what to do." I begin to tear up.

"Do you want my help?"

Shocking. Trina offering help?

"I don't know." I look at her hesitantly. "Do I?"

"I think you do." I nod at her and she takes the hint. I could use all the help I could get right now. "You have to answer all the questions I ask you, okay?"

"I guess so."

"And this won't be a one day thing. It'll take some time." She says.

"I mean, how long are we talking about here?"

"Do you want to make her feel better or not? This will take time. This will take work. And this will take effort. Are you up for it?" She asks.

"Of course I want her to feel better." I pause. "Let's do it. I'll answer all of your questions."

"No matter how personal?"

"Sure." What am I getting myself into?

"Okay… question number one: what is your sexual preference?"

"Straight as an arrow." I say.

"Question number two: Is there any shot at you dating my sister?" She asks.

This question stops me for some reason. I have no clue why, though. I just told her I was straight, yet when she asked me that, I doubted if I really was.

"Hello, in there!" Trina is waving her hand in front of me trying to regain my attention. I've zoned out. This thought… it's very odd. I've never had a thought that really stumped me. I've had confusing thoughts, many of those, but never stumping thoughts.

Could I like Tori? No, there's no way.

"Hey… Red!" She splashes water on me. That did it. That got my attention back.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about that question." I say.

"And the answer is…?"

"I don't know."

"There's that fucking 'I don't know' again!" I jump at her curse word. I don't like those. They hurt my ears.

"Red, if you're going to get passed all of this, if you're going to help Tori get passed this, you need to either accept that you like her or put her out of her misery. I'm tired of seeing her come home broken. You either need to out those broken pieces back together or finish breaking her so she can put herself back together. Don't just break her piece by piece." She finishes.

"I'm not trying to do this to her, Trina. I told you that I don't know what I want yet. I'm just very confused right now."

"Well, Cat, you better figure some things out really quick, because I'm getting real impatient. She needs to be happy without you or happy with you. Which is it going to be?"

"I don't know." I say, quietly.

"With or without?"

"I don't know." A little louder.

"With or without?!" She's getting louder, too.

"I don't know!"

"With or without?!" She yells.

"WITH!" My eyes go wide and so do hers. What did I just say?

"With?" Trina asks, almost a whisper.

I can't move. I can't speak. I can't blink. I can't breathe. I can't feel my legs. I start to get lightheaded. And then…. Black.

I can hear people talking, moving around near my side. I can't make out what they're saying though. They sound panicked. Although I can't understand them, I can sense a tone. God, my head hurts. What the hell happened? My eyes open, but everything is blurry.

I can, however, see two brunettes standing over me. I guess that's Tori and Trina. Trina comes into focus but I still can't see Tori. And there she is. She wraps her arms around me, squeezing me tightly. I still can't move.

"Hi." I squeak.

"Hey, Cat." Tori mumbles.

"What happened? Did I go non-conscious?"

Oh my god. I did. I passed out in the pool when I told Trina that I may like Tori. Actually, I don't think I ever said may. Does she know?! I look Trina in the eye. She knows what I'm thinking.

"Tori, why don't you go get Cat some lunch. What time is it? Three o'clock? Get her some early dinner or something." Trina say

"Yeah. That sounds good. She could use something to eat… maybe it'll help her regain some of her strength." She gets up off her knees and leaves my side. I quickly look at Trina.

"No, I made something up. Trust me." She says, trying to calm me down.

"What did you say?"

"I just told her that I was really upset when she went in and that I took it out on you and it made you pass out. So you can just pay me back by dating my sister soon." I nod.

"How did everything happen?"

"Well… I was trying to get your attention in the pool and you were having a real hard time focusing and you really weren't moving… like at all. And then you…"

"Went non-conscious." I finish for her.

"Went… unconscious." She says.

"DON'T CORRECT ME." I scold her.

Soon enough, Tori returns to the room. She hands me my lunch/dinner. She brought me a sandwich, some potato chips and a salad. This is more like a lunch, but I'll take it.

"Tori, thank you, so much." I say, taking a quick bite of the sandwich. Then another and another.

"Slow down, Cat. You don't want to make yourself sick." Tori laughs, slightly.

"I don't even care." I shove a bunch of potato chips in my mouth. I look her in the eye. "The bag."

"What?" She asks.

"Get the bag of potato chips. I need more." I say. She jumps up off of her knees and runs back to the kitchen.

"Are you sure she doesn't know anything?" I ask Trina.

"No, I swear, I didn't tell her anything. I'm leaving this all to you guys. It wouldn't be fair for me to force that on you guys. Relationships need to form on their own." She smiles.

I smile back.

"Do you really like my sister." She asks, seriously.

"I think so. Nothing is telling me that I don't."

Then Tori reenters. "Here you go, Cat. These are all the potato chips we have in our pantry." She throws them on my lap. "Go nuts."

"Thank you so much." I say, tearing into the chips.

"I'm taking the rest of this sandwich, though." She says, picking it up and taking a big bite. I shrug and continue on with eating my chips. Forget Nurse Cotter. I'm eating unhealthy. Suddenly, my pink Pear Phone rings. I find it on the coffee table with the dreaded name popping up on the screen… Mom.

I pick it up and answer it, reluctantly.

"What do you want, Mother?" I snarl.

"Nice to speak to you too, Caterina." She says. God, I can't stand her.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you… DON'T CALL ME CATERINA!" I scream.

"Inside voice, sweetheart." I hate it when she calls me that. "I'm not calling to nag you or anything. I'm just calling you to tell you that your grandmother isn't doing well. She had a stroke and it's not looking good." She says, almost like she cares.

"I'm sorry, what?" No way I heard what I just heard.

"Your grandmother…"

"Nona! It's Nona!" I correct her.

"Fine… Nona is about to clock out." I hang up as soon as she says that. I drop my phone and it hits the floor, surely shattering the screen. I really couldn't care less. I sit there, motionless. My Nona is dying.

"What's wrong, Cat?" Tori asks.

I don't say anything.

"Cat… hey, Red!" Trina waves her arms in front of me.

"My Nona…" I choke. "She… she… she's dying." I finally start bawling. Tori takes me in her arms. Her hand cradles the back of my head and she's rocking me back and forth. Her fingers run through my hair like a brush.

She squeezes me tighter and tighter. And strangely enough, I feel relatively safe. I'm devastated that Nona is almost ready to go, but for some reason, in Tori's arms, I feel like I can handle it. I'd normally be in hysterics, which I guess I am, but I think I'm handling it well.

I bury my head into my shoulder and cry my little eyes out. Knowing that I'm about to have to go to the hospital and see my Nona lying on her death bed. You know what's funny, though? My mom didn't even seem to care. I know Nona is my father's mother, but still yet… anyone with a heart would be upset when one of their family members are dying or is dead. It just goes to show you that my mother is not a good person.

Tori pushes me off of her and I'm sad to be out of her grasp.

"Oh, Cat, I'm so sorry. Do you need me to come with you to the hospital?" She asks.

"Tori, I couldn't ask you to do that. I don't want you to go through any trouble like that. You still aren't feeling good, so… you just stay here." I say, smiling lightly.

"Cat?"

"Yeah?"

"It was a rhetorical question." She says, sternly, yet lightly at the same time. I nod and get up from the couch, still feeling slightly dizzy from the morning's adventures. It's been really rough so far.

I run upstairs with the sound of Tori's feet hitting the wooden steps following closely behind. I find it really flattering that she cares so much about me that she'd go out of her way to see people she doesn't even know just to make me feel better. It's ridiculous how selfless she is.

We enter her room and she throws me a shirt to change into. I take off the dirty top without even thinking about her leaving the room or if she's staring. Right now… I couldn't care less. I put on a pair of house shoes Trina is letting me use. I know people don't typically go out in house shoes, but who really cares? I don't… not today.

I run a brush through my hair and put a little headband in it. I look like a mess, but no one really thinks about that at a hospital. And if they did… I still wouldn't care.

Tori and I are ready and we walk downstairs. Trina is still on the couch watching herself on _Divertisimo. _That show was garbage.

"Cat, I'm so sorry, again. I'll text you guys later." She smiles, sympathetically as we exit Tori's house.

We walk to her car and I slouch down in the passenger's seat, putting my feet up on the dash. She gets in on the driver's side and starts the car.

"Tori, for the last time, you don't have to do this. You can just drop me off. I know you still don't feel all that good." I say.

"Cat, I'm sure I feel as good as you." She says, backing out of the driveway. "You're my best friend. I'd do anything for you. And you need a friend right now. I know that your home life is very tense. I know from what you tell me that your mother is just…"

"Awful?" I finish the sentence for her.

"Yeah, that." She says, eyes focused on the road. "You won't get much support when you're there. Your dad's mother is dying. Your mother is… well… your mother, and Adam probably doesn't even know what's going on."

"Oh, he knows. I just don't think he knows the severity of the situation. He knows that Nona is dying, but he doesn't understand how much this is affecting other people in his family." I say.

"So how is everyone going to be when we get there? Are they going to be all droopy and crying?"

"Well, there's about to be a death in the family, so my guess is that they aren't going to be overjoyed with everything that's about to go down. But I think everyone is going to try to keep their spirits up for Nona. I don't think she knows." I sigh and look out the window at all the cars driving beside us. I bet most of them are happy right now.

"Is she awake?" Tori asks.

"Yeah." I say with not a bit of emotion.

She nods and returns to her gaze on the road.

"Should we listen to some music?" She asks. She's trying to get my mind off of everything. Sweet gesture.

"I think I'm good." I say. "But thanks for offering."

It feels like an eternity passes by before we reach the hospital parking lot. Tori slowly pulls into a parking place and puts the car in park. Then the engine shuts off.

"This is your last chance to back out." I say.

"Do you not want me to go in or something?" She asks. I wasn't expecting that question. But there is a reason.

"No. I'm just thinking of you."

"No… there's a reason you keep trying to talk me out of going inside that hospital. What is it?" She asks. I can tell she cares, but I really don't want her to meet my mom. She's just horrible.

"Fine… I'm worried that… if you meet my mom… you'll think I could turn into her." I admit.

"Cat, I wasn't even thinking that. You have to promise me that you won't ever think that I'll stop being your friend just because of the way someone in your family acts. Okay?" She smiles.

"Okay. I promise. But I tried to warn you." I say.

"And I can't say that you didn't." We step out of her car and walk up to her room.

Room 2389: Maree Valentine. It just keeps getting more and more depressing.

Inside the room, my dad is sitting in a chair by Nona's bed and waves at us. Nona opens her eyes to see Tori and I standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hi, Cat." She says, weakly.

"Hi, Nona." I smile, lightly, cherishing the final few minutes I'm going to have with my Nona.

"Hello, Tori."

"Hi, Nona." She waves.

"Why don't you both come sit down over here for a little while and let me tell you a story." She says, quietly. We nod, happily, and walk over to a small love seat by her bed.

"We're ready." I say, smiling.

"Well, it was November of 1967 and the Beatles were in their prime. Oh, how much I miss those days. It was back when anyone with a shirt with a peace sign on it was cool. Anyway… I went to see one of the Beatles' shows in November and a friend and I were just absolutely obsessed with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. We brought our 'A Hard Day's Night' records with hopes of getting some autographs. So after the show, we snuck backstage and started looking for Paul and Ringo. Well, we found them sitting on some cases with musical instruments. We completely freaked out. We were meeting our idols. They invited us to sit with them for a little while before they had to leave. We did and he told us about the trouble they had on the plane on the way to LA. See, what had happened was, George Harrison, another Beatle, was having some severe stomach issues. He went to the bathroom several times. But this one time he went and stunk up the whole cabin. They said that their oxygen actually started depleting. It was so funny. But soon enough, they had to leave. We asked them to sign our records and they happily did. It was really one of the best days of my life." She finishes off her final story.

"Nona, that was an amazing story." I say.

"I know!" Tori smiles. "It's not every day that someone gets to meet two of the biggest musical icons ever. I'm sure that was a fun experience for you."

My phone buzzes. It's a text from my dad. _"She doesn't have much time left." _I nod.

"I love your stories." I say, forcing myself not to cry. It's almost no use, though.

"Cat, what are you so upset for?" She doesn't know.

"Oh, it's nothing." I smile.

She smiles, too.

"Wow… I'm getting really sleepy all of a sudden. Do you all mind if I take a nap?" She asks.

This is it. She's got a minute left.

"No, Mom." My dad says. "You go on and go to sleep." He smiles along with everyone.

"Yeah, Nona. Go to sleep." I say.

"Okay, much love." She smiles.

"Nona, I love you. I love you so much." I begin to bawl. And there's the flat line. That's it. She's gone. My dad buries his face in his hands. And out of all this, I can't help but wonder where my mom is. I hear high heels clicking outside. There she is.

"So the old bag finally called it, huh?" God, she's horrible.

"Yes… the old bag… finally called it. Why weren't you here, Sheryl?" My dad asks.

"Robert, I was hungry. And she's your mom. I didn't have to be here." She says.

I stand up. "You are an awful person."

"Caterina!" My dad scolds me.

"Oh, come on, Dad. You know you think so, too. She's a selfish bitty who cares only about herself. She doesn't care what happens to others, including her family… like Nona was and still is. She didn't even care enough about you and me to comfort us when someone we were so close to passed away. I sometimes wonder if you even love me, mother." I say.

She stands still.

Tori… I forgot about her. I grab her hand and pull her away. But before we exit…

"I've been wanting to say this for a while. You're a bitch." I smirk. Man, that felt good.

I pull Tori out by the wrist without looking back, wiping my eyes, because of Nona's death. But I can't help but feel a bit of pride because I told my mom off. I know Nona wouldn't have wanted that to happen minutes after she died. But it did. And I didn't want it to, but she disrespected Nona. No one does that.

Now it's on to the grieving stage. Maybe all this is a plan to help Tori and I grow closer. Who knows, maybe this could be a good and bad thing.

**I know it seemed a little out of character for Cat to use the word 'bitch' but I felt like it was necessary. And she has finally admitted that she has SOME kind of feelings for Tori. What did you all think?**

**And by the way, I listened to Ariana Grande's album twice through writing this. She helped this one get out tonight. Thank her, people. Have I mentioned that I'd marry her? For real. I'd marry her. It's like a sickness how much I love her.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hope you all like this one.**

The weekend had officially ended two days after Nona died. Going back to school was going to be hard.

I couldn't go back to my house. Especially after what I said to my mother. She just… the way she was talking about Nona… the way she looked down at everyone. I was through. I snapped. So that kind of gave me no excuse to return home. I miss Adam.

Dad brought some clothes over to Tori's for me to wear for at least a week. Tori and her parents graciously welcomed me into their home after learning about what happened with my mother and me. Mrs. Vega sat me down and told me that everything would be okay and that she, Mr. Vega, and Tori would all take great care of me.

It was really the first time in a long time that I felt like I was actually being cared for.

Over the weekend, I guess it was necessary to stay in one room together. We were sick and we didn't want anyone else to get what we had. But now we're somewhat better. Now, we still feel like crap, but we have nothing contagious anymore. So when I was brought into her home, Tori's family let me choose what room I wanted to stay in. Tori offered to let me stay in her bedroom, but Mrs. Vega said that I could choose to sleep in the guest room instead.

And that's what I did. When my dad brought me my clothes, Tori gave me some hangers out of her closet that I could use to hang my clothes. She helped me unpack, put fresh sheets on the bed, and even vacuumed for me. Talk about hospitality.

The guest room was nice. The bed was soft, the comforter was warm, and there was even a small TV sitting on a chest in the corner. It stayed on Nickelodeon. Spongebob was always on, and let's face it, who doesn't love Spongebob?

So when bedtime finally reared its head, I changed into my pajama bottoms that were covered in cupcakes and a small pink tank top. It's too small, actually. But I only wear it to bed.

I am so tired. Bedtime for me ranged anywhere from ten-thirty to one-thirty in the morning. This time I chose to split the difference and got into bed around eleven o'clock. Tori had gone to bed a lot earlier than me.

I climb under the covers and turn the bedside lamp off. Then the TV goes off. Darkness. Sweet, sweet darkness. There's nothing better than sleep and darkness. I close my eyes and prepare to go to sleep. Then there's a knock on my door. I hear it creak open.

"Cat?" That's Tori's voice. "Cat, are you awake?" She whispers.

"Barely." I say, lying on my side. "What's up?"

"I had a bad dream."

I turn on the bedside lamp and look at her, squinting, waiting on my eyes to adjust to the light. I see her standing by the foot of the bed, looking exhausted.

"I'm sorry, Tori." I say.

"I was… I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight. Or… you could sleep with me. Whichever." She says. I can tell she just wants to be near me. And honestly, I don't find it weird or stalkerish at all. I really want to be near her, too.

"Sure. I'll come in there." I pull the covers off of me and grab Mr. Purple.

"You wanna put something on?" She asks, slightly turning away.

"You think it's too small?"

"Maybe a touch."

I look down at my tank top. Maybe it's time to get rid of this thing. It's just way too small. And it's a bit too revealing. Especially when you're lying in bed with your crush and she likes you back. She leaves the room and I strip off my tank top. I look in the closet, pull out a sports bra, put it on, and put one of my cheer shirts from middle school on.

I walk out into the hall to see Tori standing, facing the door.

"Better, Tori?" I ask.

"Much better." She says, smiling. She probably liked the tank top, but she probably knew that it was a little too much. I agreed though.

We walk into her room and I jump into the familiar bed. Strange. It seems softer than the other bed. Maybe I'm just used to this one. The other bed felt empty, too. And this one did, as well, but then Tori got into it. This bed is perfect.

"Your bed is so comfortable, Tori." I pull the covers up to my chin, eager to get warm.

"My bed thanks you." She smiles.

I lay my head down on the pillow and pull Mr. Purple close. Tori cuddles behind me. But I don't shy away. I don't cringe inside thinking about what she may be thinking. I don't get uncomfortable. I actually do the opposite: get comfortable.

"I hate to bring this up but… when is Nona's funeral?" She asks.

"My dad emailed me the information. He said that it would be on Thursday at noon, so I won't be at school on Thursday." I say, flatly.

"We… won't be at school on Thursday."

"We? Why won't you be there?" I ask.

"Because I have a funeral to attend. My best friend's Nona just passed away and I want to be there for her. Don't you think that's a good idea?" I can feel how much she cares about me. And second after second, my care for her increases as well.

"I think that she is a very lucky person to have you as a best friend." I turn around and hug her as best I can, while lying in the bed. She hugs me back, tightly. "Thank you so much."

"There's no thanks that needs to be given, Cat. Like I said, you're my best friend and I'd do anything for you."

I hug her again. "I love you, Tori." And I mean it. I do. I love her. Maybe not like she loves me, but I love her. I'd do anything for her, too.

"Love you, too, Cat." She squeezes me tight and settles into the bed. "Thanks for coming in here and sleeping with me. The bed just didn't feel the same without a little body on the other side of it."

"I was actually just thinking the same thing. Seriously, I was." We laugh and close our eyes, making another attempt to go to sleep.

Thursday came quickly. Although Tori and I were out of school, I still would rather go to school every day for the rest of my life if I could have Nona back in my life.

I hate going to funerals. It's not that I hate the people that are being buried, it's just such a sad environment. Everyone should be celebrating someone's passing. I know that sounds very morbid, but it's true. A child's birth is celebrated because it's new and something else to love in our lives. Someone's death- dare I say- should be celebrated because they don't have to live on Earth anymore. Although it may keep us alive, it's still a miserable place compared to where you go when you die. So that's why I think death should be "celebrated".

I guess celebrated is the wrong word to use. Maybe we should be happy for someone who dies. There we go. That's better. I think we should all be happy for someone who passes so that they don't have to waste time dealing with things on Earth and spend more time doing what they want in heaven.

Alas, I cannot celebrate or be happy for Nona's funeral. She was a special part of me… still is. Nona practically raised me. When my parents were away on business or just didn't want to mess with me, they'd drop me off at Nona's apartment. I'm going to miss her. I guess I'm happy she's gone to a better place, but the selfish part of me really doesn't want her to go.

So… on Thursday morning, what do I do? Follow my routine as if it was a normal school day. I set the alarm on my phone to wake me up at eight o'clock to get ready. I got up right when the alarm went off and began to get dressed. I chose something to fit the occasion. I normally don't wear Jade-like clothing, but if I was ever going to wear anything black, today was the day.

When my phone went off, I was very surprised to find that Tori had already gotten up out of bed and gone downstairs. Seems like I would've noticed her absence in the bed. Oh well. The smell of omelets fills the air. So with a slight ray of sunshine shining on this dark day, I run downstairs and find an omelet sitting there waiting for me on a place mat at my spot at the table.

Tori is sitting in her regular spot, which is right beside mine, eating an omelet of her own. She smiles at me with egg in her teeth.

"You got a little something…" I point to my own teeth, telling her where to clean in her own mouth. I can't help but laugh at her, though.

"Is it gone?" She smiles big. I nod. Then we continue to eat our breakfast.

"So are you going to be okay, today?" Tori finally brings up the funeral. I'm glad it was finally brought up. It kind of felt like we were ignoring an elephant in the room.

"Umm… no. I really won't. But I'll survive, especially if I have you there." I smile, weakly.

"I'll be there every step of the way… whatever you may need, I promise that I'll do my best to get it for you." She says.

"Can I… can I just say something?"

"Of course, Cat. What is it?"

I can't tell her how I feel now, can I? No. It's too soon. But this is killing me! All of these nice things she's doing for me… it just makes me want her more.

"Tori, I just want you to know that you mean so much to me. You are easily the most important person in my life. You help me up when I get pushed down. And then you pull my head out of the clouds when I get too full of myself. You help me through all the crap I get into and you don't even ask for anything in return. I just makes me feel good knowing that God put me and you here to be friends. You are someone that will always have a special part of my heart. You're my best friend." I finish.

There's no way I could tell her. It's just too soon.

"Cat, that means so much to hear you say that. I really appreciate it. You're my best friend, too. I hope today goes as smoothly as possible for you." I lean in and hug her. She squeezes me tightly.

"Love you, Tori." I say, sweetly.

"Love you too, Cat."

We continue to eat breakfast, but soon enough, it's all in our stomachs and we're almost ready to go. Tori's parents walk into the kitchen to greet us.

"Hello, girls." Mrs. Vega smiles.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Daddy." Tori hugs them both goodbye.

"Cat, how'd you sleep? Was the guest room comfortable enough for you?" Mr. Vega asks me.

"Well, I didn't exactly sleep in there. I originally planned on it, but Tori said she had a bad dream so I went to sleep in her room. But I was in the guest bed for a minute. It seemed comfortable." I say.

"Well that's good." Mr. Vega says.

"Tori, sweetheart, is this true? Did you have a nightmare?" Mrs. Vega hugs her daughter.

"Yeah, but it wasn't a big deal." She answers.

"Apparently it was big enough for you to need me to sleep with you." I say.

"I mean…. Sure… it was a bad dream, don't get me wrong, but it was nothing I'm going to remember for the rest of my life or anything. Don't worry about it, Mom. And if I do get scared… then I have Cat to protect me." She looks over at me and smiles. I smile back.

I know what you're thinking. Cat? Cat Valentine? Protective? Hah. That's a real good one. Cat couldn't protect herself even if she had a dozen shields around her. And people have good reason to believe that. But when it comes down to it…. When it comes down to protecting my friends, my family…. The people I care most for, the people I love…. You couldn't find a better body guard. My integrity is a lot stronger than most people would think.

"That's right, Mrs. Vega. I'll take care of her." I say.

"Tori, I expect you to take good care of Cat today, okay? She's going through a sad time right now and she doesn't need anything else piled on top of her. Is that clear?" Mr. Vega says, sternly.

"Yes, Daddy. I promise." She nods.

She hugs her parents and we walk out the door and get into her car. It's going to be a long day.

We reach the cemetery. The service went fine. I said hello to my dad and only my dad. My mother didn't look at me, nor did I wish to look at her, either.

This was the part I was going to struggle with. Of course, as a close family member, I was going to have to stand up and give a little speech. I actually had a little something up my sleeve. I called someone and asked if I could have a special guest. He said he'd try to make it from London, England all the way over here. Guess he was on vacation there. He lives here.

But anyway, the sat the casket over the hole they were going to bury Nona in and then they told me that it was time to say a few words.

I walk beside her casket and take a deep breath, looking straight at Tori before I speak. Her eyes are tearing up.

"Thank you all for coming. My Nona really would've appreciate…." My phone vibrates against my leg and I quickly check to see if it was my special visitor. It was and I asked to be excused. I know it was rude but people will understand why it had to be done here in a minute.

He told me that he was pulling into the cemetery now. So I let him go and watched his car pull up beside me. So you wonder who my special visitor was? It was Sir Paul McCartney; the man in which Nona met at a Beatles concert. He had also brought a special guest: Ringo Starr. The other Beatle.

I greeted them with a quick hello and led them to where the rest of the people were. Everyone started mumbling, of course, shocked to see the two music legends.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr." Everyone claps for them, even though the focus should be on Nona.

"Hello, everyone." Paul says. Ringo waves. "We met Maree Valentine in 1967. However briefly, we spent some time with her and her friend whose name I cannot remember. Maree seemed like a vibrant young soul and was smiling through our whole encounter." Paul finishes.

"Yes, Paul is right. Because we were in one of the biggest bands in the world at the time, everyone thought we were only out for ourselves and that was untrue. Although we don't remember every one of our encounters with fans of the Beatles, we both locked those few minutes we spent with Maree in the back of our minds." Ringo adds.

"It was just a shame John and George didn't meet her before they passed away. They would've loved her." Paul frowns, shaking his head. "But Kitty Cat called us and we thought it would be nice to see Maree one more time… to pay our respects."

"So that's it, then. Maree… we love you. And we also wish you eternal happiness as you pass through the Pearly Gates." Ringo blows a kiss to her. Then they're through and stand off to the side.

I walk up beside Nona. "Thank you guys for coming. I'm sure it would've meant so much to my Nona to have known that you were here. I mean, it means so much to me." They wave it off as if it's no problem. "I guess now I have to say some words, huh? My Nona…. My Nona…." I begin to cry. The whole 'let's celebrate her death' thing is out the window. I can't stop the tears. Tori runs up to grab me and pull me to my seat. I push away.

"Tori, I have to get through this." She lets me go. "My Nona meant so much to me." I force out. "My Nona meant so much to everyone. She very rarely said a harsh word to anyone. She never made someone go out of their way even if it was an inconvenience for her. That's the way she was raised and that was the thing she stressed to me the most. She'd always say, 'Cat, no matter what, don't ever make someone do something that you can easily do yourself.' I know that seems silly. But it's true. There's no sense of honor in having someone else do everything for you. Nona taught me that. She taught me so many things. So many that I can't even count them on my on my own two hands. She was a special person. I'll miss her. Everyone will miss her. Apparently God needed another angel. And that's just what he got. I just wish he could've done without her for a little while longer." I finish. I walk to my seat and lay my head down on Tori's shoulder.

A preacher stands up and says, "Thus ends our service." And then I realize… this is the last time I'm going to see Nona. It all becomes so real.

While everyone else leaves the cemetery, Tori and I stay to see Nona go down. I felt that it was only right. Slowly, the casket descends below the ground and goes out of sight. I smile. Not because I'm happy she's gone or anything. I just know that she's happy. And although I'm sad she's gone, I'm finding myself becoming happier as well.

Tori and I hop into the car and start driving back home. She asks if I'm hungry and I nod with a yes.

"How does Inside Out Burger sound?" She asks.

"I guess that sounds okay. Are you sure you don't want to go back home, though? I would after going through something like that. All I'd want to do is sleep." I laugh slightly.

"I don't know how many times it's going to say this, Cat? You're my best friend." And your crush. "I'd do anything for you. This is just one of those things. If you're hungry, I'm going to buy you something to eat; all there is to it. The quicker you get that in your head the faster we can stop having these kind of conversations."

"You're right. Let's go to Inside Out Burger. I feel like having some curly fries." I smile.

"That's my girl. Where did you say you saw the restaurant?"

"Um… right there!" I point. She sees it and pulls into the parking lot.

"Eat here or to-go?" She asks.

"Here. You gonna take my order, too?"

"Do you want me to take your order?"

"I think I'm big enough to order my own food now." I laugh. Handling Nona's death has been easy with Tori. It just feels good to be around her.

We enter the restaurant and order. I got nervous up in front of the cashier and Tori had to order for me. I was so embarrassed. But I got what I wanted. I got some curly fries with a double cheeseburger, no onions. I hate onions. They taste alright, I guess, but I hate the crunch. It just… ew.

Tori and I get our food and drinks and head over to a table in the corner. She separates everything out. She hands me my fries, then gets her fries out. Then she hands me my burger, then gets her burger. She's so sweet.

"Cat?"

"Yeah, Tori, what's up?"

"Can I talk to you about something?" She asks.

"Sure, I guess."

"What happened between you and your mother?" That caught me off guard. With fries hanging out of my mouth, I try to start talking.

"Cat, Cat… swallow your fries first." She says.

"Okay, Tori." I mumble out, nodding.

I swallow and take a sip from my drink.

"You want to know what happened between me and my mom? Okay. You know how she obviously didn't like Nona?" She nods. "Well one day, I was over at Nona's house and my mom walked in. She was holding me and I reached for Nona. But instead of calling her by her name, I called her 'Mama'. I called Nona this. My mom told me to stop that and told me that her name was Mama. To this day, I believe that I was just mixing up names. Nona sounds like Mama! But I didn't stop for a while. And this made my mother resent Nona because she felt like I loved her more. That also made her mad at me. I loved them equally. I still love my mom even though she doesn't feel very good feeling for me anymore. Anyway… that's all it was." I say.

"Don't you think that seems a bit childish?" Tori asks.

I nod, taking a bite of my hamburger. "Yeah. But that's Sheryl Valentine for you."

"Do you think you'll ever make up?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know." Those damn 'I don't knows.'

**So there's the back story behind Cat's mom. Do you think they'll make up? Well do you!? Let me know in a review.**

**And guys… the Broncos lost the Super Bowl. I was so upset. I'm still grieving. I feel like Cat does about Nona. (Not really) Later gators.**


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